''I-365'' 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 August 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 was sunk while returning from her first transport mission in November 1944.

Construction and commissioning

''I-365'' 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 15 May 1943 by the

Yokosuka Navy Yard or is a United States Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan. Its mission is to maintain and operate base facilities for the logistic, recreational, administrative support and service of the U.S. Naval Forces Japan (United States), Naval Forces Japan, ...

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 ...

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. 5465''. She was renamed ''I-365'' 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 17 December 1943 and was completed and commissioned on 1 August 1944.

Service history

Upon commissioning, ''I-365'' was attached formally to the Yokosuka Naval District and 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 30 September 1944. On 1 November 1944, ''I-365'' departed

bound for Truk on her first transport mission, carrying a cargo of mail and medicine. She reached Truk on 15 November 1944, unloaded her cargo, and embarked 31 passengers. She got back underway on 16 November 1944 with total of 96 passengers and crew aboard bound for the

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic readi ...

, intending to proceed to Yokosuka after her stop in the Bonins. She sent a routine signal on 25 November 1944 while east of the Bonins. The Japanese never heard from her again. On 29 November 1944, the

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 ...

submarine sighted ''I-365'' with her high

periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

while ''I-365'' was on the surface in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

southeast of Yokosuka. ''Scabbardfish'' tracked ''I-365'' for three hours before a Japanese aircraft forced her to submerge, but she surfaced and completed an "end-around" maneuver in which she outran ''I-365'' and submerged in a favorable firing position in front of ''I-365''. ''Scabbardfish'' launched two

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 ...

es from her

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s at a range of . At 09:40, one of them hit ''I-365'', exploding on her

starboard Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front). Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are ...

side in her forward battery compartment. ''I-365'' sank in 30 seconds at . ''Scabbardfish'' surfaced and found the sea surface covered with oil and debris and five survivors in the water. Four refused rescue and eventually died in the water, but ''Scabbardfish'' brought the fifth man aboard. The sole survivor of ''I-365'', he identified his submarine as ''I-365'' to ''Scabbardfish''′s crew. On 10 December 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared to be presumed lost off the Bonin Islands. She was stricken from the Navy list on 10 March 1945.

Notes

Sources

* Hackett, Bob & Kingsepp, Sander.
IJN Submarine I-365: Tabular Record of Movement
Retrieved on September 17, 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:I-365 Type D submarines Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal 1943 ships World War II submarines of Japan Japanese submarines lost during World War II Maritime incidents in November 1944 World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Submarines sunk by submarines Ships sunk by American submarines