''I-361'' was an

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

Type D1 transport

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

. Completed and commissioned in May 1944, she served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and conducted transport missions between Japan and

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

until she was converted into a ''

kaiten were crewed torpedoes and suicide craft, used by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the final stages of World War II. History In recognition of the unfavorable progress of the war, towards the end of 1943 the Japanese high command considered s ...

suicide attack A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

carrier 1945. She was sunk during her first ''kaiten'' mission in May 1945.

Construction and commissioning

''I-361'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 16 February 1943 by the

Kure Naval Arsenal was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. History The Kure Naval District was established at Kure, Hiroshima in 1889, as the second of the naval districts responsible for the defense of the J ...

Kure is a port and major shipbuilding city situated on the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. With a strong industrial and naval heritage, Kure hosts the second-oldest naval dockyard in Japan and remains an important base for the Japan M ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, with the name ''Submarine No. 5461''. She was renamed ''I-361'' on 20 October 1943 and provisionally attached to the

Yokosuka Naval District was the first of four main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included Tokyo Bay and the Pacific coasts of central and northern Honshū from the Kii Peninsula to Shimokita Peninsula. Its headquarters, a ...

that day. She was launched on 30 October 1943 and was attached formally to the Yokosuka Naval District that day. She was completed and commissioned on 25 May 1944.

Service history

Upon commissioning, ''I-361'' was assigned to Submarine

Squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, de ...

11 for workups. With her workups complete, she was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 7 on 15 August 1944.

Transport missions

On 23 August 1944, ''I-361'' departed

Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city ...

bound for

on her first transport mission. She arrived at Wake Island on 7 September 1944, discharged 70 tons of cargo, embarked 30 passengers, and got back underway the same day for her return voyage. She arrived at Yokosuka on 17 September 1944. While in Japan, she briefly ran aground on 4 October 1944. ''I-361'' got underway from Yokosuka on 17 October 1944 for her second transport voyage, again setting course for Wake Island, which she reached on 29 October 1944. After unloading 67 tons of ammunition and taking five passengers aboard, she left the same day bound for Yokosuka, where she arrived on 9 November 1944. On 9 January 1945, ''I-361'' began her final supply voyage, again destined for Wake Island. Calling there on 22 January 1945, she unloaded her cargo, embarked passengers, and got back underway the same day. She arrived at Yokosuka on 7 February 1945.

''Kaiten'' carrier

After returning to Japan, ''I-361'' was converted from a transport submarine into a ''

carrier, the conversion involving the removal of her deck gun and ''Daihatsu''-class

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Pr ...

and their replacement with fittings allowing her to carry five ''kaitens'' on her deck. On 20 March 1945, Submarine Squadron 7 was deactivated, and ''I-361'' was reassigned to Submarine Division 15. Between 26 and 29 March 1945, U.S. forces captured advanced bases and anchorages in the

Kerama Islands The are a subtropical island group southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Geography Four islands are inhabited: Tokashiki Island, Zamami Island, Aka Island, and Geruma Island. The islands are administered as Tokashiki Village and Zamami Villa ...

southwest of

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, and the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

began when U.S. forces landed on Okinawa itself on 1 April 1945. By 24 May 1945, ''I-361'' was part of the ''Todoroki'' ("Thunderclap") ''Kaiten'' Group along with the submarines , , and . With five ''kaitens'' on board, she got underway from the ''kaiten'' base at

Hikari may refer to: Places *Hikari Station, a station on Sanyō Main Line in Hikari, Yamaguchi * Hikari, Chiba, a former town in Sousa District, Chiba, Japan *Hikari, Yamaguchi, a city in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan People *Hikari (name), people and ...

that day bound for a patrol area southeast of Okinawa.

Loss

On 28 May 1945, a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

detected ''I-361''. The minesweeper alerted the

escort aircraft carrier The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft ...

and the four

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

s screening her of the contact, and ''Anzio'' and her escorts headed for the scene, with ''Anzio'' launching aircraft from her embarked

Composite Squadron 13 (VC-13) Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...

to conduct a series of searches for ''I-361''. At 04:36 on 31 May 1945, a VC-13 TBM-1C Avenger

torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...

established radar contact on ''I-361'', which was on the surface southeast of Okinawa. Dropping out of a cloud, the Avenger sighted ''I-361'' at a range of about , misidentifying her as an "''I-161''-class submarine" without a deck gun and not reporting any ''kaitens'' on her deck. The Avenger fired four

rockets A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

at , and the plane′s crew believed they had scored two hits. ''I-361'' crash-dived. The Avenger then dropped

sonobuoy A sonobuoy (a portmanteau of sonar and buoy) is a relatively small buoy – typically diameter and long – expendable sonar system that is dropped/ejected from aircraft or ships conducting anti-submarine warfare or underwater acoustic resea ...

s and a Mark 24 "Fido"

acoustic homing Acoustic homing is a system which uses the acoustic signature (sound) of a target to guide a moving object, such as a torpedo. Acoustic homing can be either passive or active in nature. Using passive homing, the system is designed to move either t ...

. The Fido homed in on ''I-361''′s propeller noises and exploded. The approaching destroyer escort felt a strong underwater shock away, and when she and the destroyer escort arrived on the scene of the sinking they sighted a heavy oil slick and floating debris. It marked the end of ''I-361'', sunk with the loss of all 81 men on board — her entire crew of 76 and all five of her embarked ''kaiten'' pilots — at . On 25 June 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared ''I-361'' to be presumed lost with all hands southeast of Okinawa. She was stricken from the Navy list on 10 August 1945.

Notes

Sources

* Hackett, Bob & Kingsepp, Sander.
IJN Submarine I-361: Tabular Record of Movement
Retrieved on September 17, 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:I-361 Type D submarines Ships built by Kure Naval Arsenal 1943 ships World War II submarines of Japan Japanese submarines lost during World War II Maritime incidents in October 1944 Maritime incidents in May 1945 Warships lost in combat with all hands Submarines lost with all hands World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Submarines sunk by aircraft