''I-8'' 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 ...

Junsen III (or J3)-type

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 ...

commissioned in 1938 that served during

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 ...

. Designed as

submarine aircraft carrier A submarine aircraft carrier is a submarine equipped with aircraft for observation or attack missions. These submarines saw their most extensive use during World War II, although their operational significance remained rather small. The most fam ...

s, ''I-8'' and her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

were the largest Japanese submarines to be completed before the outbreak of the

war in the Pacific The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

in 1941. With embarked

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

s, ''I-8'' participated in operations related to the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

, patrolled off the

United States West Coast The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

, and took part in the

Guadalcanal campaign The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in th ...

and the

Okinawa campaign 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 ...

. In 1943, ''I-8'' completed a technology exchange mission with a voyage to German-

occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

and back to

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 ...

, the only submarine to complete a round-trip voyage between Japan and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

during World War II. Under a new

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

in 1944, her crew committed war crimes during anti-shipping operations in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

. She was sunk in 1945.

Construction and commissioning

Built by Kawasaki at

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

, with a design based on that of the ''Kaidai'' (KD)-type submarines,''I-8'' 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 11 October 1934.I-8 ijnsubsite.com 19 December 2012 Accessed 30 January 2022
/ref> She was launched on 20 July 1936 and was completed and commissioned on 5 December 1938.

Service history

Pre-World War II

On the day of her commissioning, ''I-8'' was 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 Ocean, Pacific coasts of central and northern Honshū from the Kii Peninsula to Shimokita Peninsula. Its h ...

. On 15 December 1938, she became the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of 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, ...

2 in the 2nd Fleet, a component of the

Combined Fleet The was the main sea-going component of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Until 1933, the Combined Fleet was not a permanent organization, but a temporary force formed for the duration of a conflict or major naval maneuvers from various units norm ...

. She became the flagship of Submarine Squadron 3 in the 2nd Fleet on 15 November 1939. On 11 October 1940, she was one of 98 Imperial Japanese Navy ships that gathered along with more than 500 aircraft on the Japanese coast at

Yokohama Bay is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

for an Imperial fleet review — the largest

fleet review A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...

in Japanese history — in honor of the 2,600th anniversary of the enthronement of the

Emperor Jimmu was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the '' Nihon Shoki'' and '' Kojiki''. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC.Kelly, Charles F"Kofun Culture"emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

. On 15 November 1940, Submarine Squadron 3 was reassigned to the 6th Fleet in the Combined Fleet. At some point, the

submarine tender A submarine tender is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and ...

relieved ''I-8'' as squadron flagship, because on 1 October 1941,

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Shigeyoshi Miwa , was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. He commanded the Japanese submarine forces during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Biography Miwa was a native of Aichi prefecture, and graduated 59th out of 148 cadets in the 39th cl ...

, the commander of Submarine Squadron 3, transferred his flag from ''Taigei'' to ''I-8'', making her the squadron flagship again. She subsequently conducted combat training along with the other submarines of the squadron off

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

. By 10 November 1941, ''I-8'' had been assigned to the 6th Fleet's Advance Expeditionary Force. That day, the 6th Fleet's commander, Vice Admiral

Mitsumi Shimizu was a vice admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II. Biography Shimizu was a native of Nagano prefecture. He graduated 24th out of 191 cadets from the 36th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, in November 1908. His classmat ...

, held a meeting with the

s of the submarines of Submarine Squadron 3 aboard his flagship, the

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...

, which was

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...

ed in Saeki Bay on the coast of Kyushu , and his chief of staff briefed them on plans for Operation Z, the upcoming surprise

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. The attack would begin the Pacific campaign and bring Japan and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

into

. As Japanese military forces began to deploy for the opening Japanese offensive of the war, ''I-8'', with an embarked

Watanabe E9W The Watanabe E9W was a Japanese submarine-borne reconnaissance seaplane, the first aircraft designed by Watanabe Ironworks. Development and design In January 1934, the Imperial Japanese Navy had a requirement for a two-seat reconnaissance se ...

1 ( Allied reporting name "Slim")

, departed Saeki Bay on 11 November 1941 bound for

Kwajalein Atoll Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...

, which she reached on 20 November 1941. Assigned to support Operation Z, ''I-8'' got underway from Kwajalein on 24 November 1941 and set course for the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

. While she was en route, she received the message "Climb

Mount Niitaka Yu Shan or Yushan, also known as Mount Jade, Jade Mountain, or , and known as Mount Niitaka during Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese rule, is the highest mountain in Taiwan at above sea level, giving Taiwan the List of islands by highes ...

1208" ( ja, Niitakayama nobore 1208) from the

on 2 December 1941, indicating that war with the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

would commence on 8 December 1941

Japan time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to as ...

, which was on 7 December 1941 on the other side of the

International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is an internationally accepted demarcation on the surface of Earth, running between the South and North Poles and serving as the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific O ...

World War II

First war patrol: Pearl Harbor

By 7 December 1941, the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, ''I-8'' was patrolling north of

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

with orders to attack any ships that attempted to

sortie A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint. The term originated in siege warfare. ...

from Pearl Harbor. She returned to Kwajalein on 24 December 1941.

Second war patrol

''I-8'' got underway from Kwajalein again on 12 January 1942 bound for a patrol area off the

. Early on 3 February 1942, she arrived off

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and noted that the city did not appear to have instituted a blackout. Toward evening that day, she sighted a

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

of what she identified as seven transports and three

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s passing her at high speed, but she was unable to attempt an attack. She had planned to use her floatplane for a reconnaissance flight over

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

, but rough weather forced her to cancel those plans. She subsequently moved north along the U.S. West Coast as far as

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, but found no opportunities to attack Allied ships. She discontinued her patrol on 9 February 1942 and headed for

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, where she arrived on 2 March 1942.

March–September 1942

After arriving at Kure, ''I-8'' began repairs and an overhaul. After completion of the work, she 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 ...

, Japan, on 15 April 1942 along with the rest of Submarine Squadron 3, bound for Kwajalein and serving as the squadron flagship with Rear Admiral Miwa embarked. During the squadron's voyage, it received orders on 18 April 1942 to search for 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 ...

task force reported to be operating east of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, but it did not make contact with the task force. The same day, 16

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

s launched by the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

— one of two aircraft carriers in the task force along with — struck targets on

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

in the

Doolittle Raid The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japan ...

. The squadron resumed its voyage, but Rear Admiral Miwa became seriously ill. While the other submarines of the squadron continued on to Kwajalein, ''I-8'' turned back for Yokosuka to seek medical treatment for him. After she arrived at Yokosuka, Rear Admiral Chimaki Kono came aboard ''I-8'' and relieved Miwa as squadron commander, and ''I-8'' put back to sea on 26 April 1942 and again set course for Kwajalein. She was off

Roi-Namur Roi-Namur ( ) is an island in the north part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Today it is a major part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, hosting several radar systems used for tracking and characterizing missi ...

at Kwajalein Atoll on 6 May 1942 when after 05:44 two Imperial Japanese Navy

Mitsubishi G4M The Mitsubishi G4M was a twin-engine, land-based medium bomber formerly manufactured by the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. Its official designat ...

1 (Allied reporting name "Betty')

s mistook her for an Allied submarine and attacked her, dropping eight bombs and inflicting damage on ''I-8'' that prevented her from submerging. After calling at Kwajalein from 7 to 8 May 1942, she returned to Japan, arriving at Kure on 16 May 1942 for repairs. Because of the incident the Imperial Japanese Navy subsequently painted double white bands on its submarines, usually on the afterdeck, as a recognition aid. On the day of her arrival at Kure, ''I-8'' was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 5. While ''I-8'' was in Japan, Submarine Squadron 5 was disbanded on 14 July 1942, and ''I-8'' was reassigned to serve as the flagship of the

Southwest Area Fleet The was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy established during World War II. History The Southwest Area Fleet was an operational command of the Imperial Japanese Navy established on April 10, 1942 to coordinate naval, air, and ground forces f ...

with the submarines of Submarine Division 30 — , , and . ''I-8'' collided with the

auxiliary cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

in Saeki Bay off the coast of Kyushu on 27 August 1942 and suffered minor damage.

Guadalcanal campaign

The

began with

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

landings on

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

in the southeastern

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

on 7 August 1942. Assigned directly to the 6th Fleet on 20 August 1942, ''I-8'' departed Saeki, Japan, on 15 September 1942 to support Japanese forces in the campaign. She arrived at

Truk Atoll Chuuk Lagoon, previously Truk Atoll, is an atoll in the central Pacific. It lies about northeast of New Guinea, and is part of Chuuk State within the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A protective reef, around, encloses a natural harbo ...

along with the submarines of Submarine Squadron 3 — , , , , , and — on 18 September 1942. She departed Truk later in September 1942 and conducted a war patrol in the southeastern Solomon Islands southeast of San Cristobal, which she concluded with her arrival at the Japanese anchorage in the

Shortland Islands The Shortland Islands is an archipelago of Western Province, Solomon Islands, at . The island group lies in the extreme north-west of the country's territory, close to the south-east edge of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. The largest isl ...

on 2 October 1942. She got back underway on 5 October for a war patrol in the vicinity of the

Indispensable Reefs The Indispensable Reefs are a chain of three large coral atolls in the Coral Sea. They are located about south of Rennell Island, separated from it by Rennel Trough. The chain stretches over a length of and its average width is . Administrat ...

south of

Rennell Island Rennell Island, locally known as Mugaba, is the main island of two inhabited islands that make up the Rennell and Bellona Province in the nation state of Solomon Islands. Rennell Island has a land area of that is about long and wide. It is th ...

, returning to the Shortlands anchorage on 24 October 1942. Later in October, ''I-8'' put to sea again for another patrol, during which her Watanabe E9W1 (Allied reporting name "Slim") floatplane reconnoitered the harbors at

Port Vila Port Vila (french: Port-Vila), or simply Vila (; french: Vila; bi, Vila ), is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate. Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 35% on the pr ...

and Havannah on

Efate Efate (french: Éfaté) is an island in the Pacific Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu. It is also known as Île Vate. Geography It is the most populous (approx. 66,000) island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanua ...

in the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

on 2 November 1942. After returning to the Shortlands anchorage during November 1942, she loaded 21 tons of supplies for Japanese forces on Guadalcanal. She departed the Shortlands on 4 December 1942 bound for Guadalcanal and, after delivering the supplies, returned to the Shortlands on 8 December 1942. During December 1942, ''I-8'' moved to Truk, from which she got underway on 14 January 1943 for a war patrol off

Canton Island Canton Island (also known as Kanton or Abariringa), previously known as Mary Island, Mary Balcout's Island or Swallow Island, is the largest, northernmost, and , the sole inhabited island of the Phoenix Islands, in the Republic of Kiribati. It i ...

in the

Phoenix Islands The Phoenix Islands, or Rawaki, are a group of eight atolls and two submerged coral reefs that lie east of the Gilbert Islands and west of the Line Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, north of Samoa. They are part of the Kiribati, Republic ...

and off the

Samoan Islands The Samoan Islands ( sm, Motu o Sāmoa) are an archipelago covering in the central South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and of the wider region of Oceania. Administratively, the archipelago comprises all of the Independent State of Samoa a ...

and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. During the patrol, she bombarded Canton Island twice with her

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose ...

s, firing 41 rounds at the island on 23 January 1943 and another 45 rounds on 1 February 1943. While ''I-8'' was on patrol, the Guadalcanal campaign came to end with the evacuation of Japanese forces from the island in

Operation Ke was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, concluding the Guadalcanal Campaign of . The operation took place between 14 January and 7 February 1943, and involved both Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial ...

, completed on 8 February 1943. ''I-8'' concluded her patrol with her arrival at Truk on 10 March 1943. She then got back underway for an overhaul at Kure, which she reached on 21 March 1943.

''Yanagi'' mission

=Voyage to France

= The

Tripartite Pact The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburō Kurusu. It was a defensive milit ...

among the

Axis Powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

provided for an exchange of

strategic material Strategic material is any sort of raw material that is important to an individual's or organization's strategic plan and supply chain management. Lack of supply of strategic materials may leave an organization or government vulnerable to disru ...

s and manufactured goods between

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and Japan. At first,

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

s made voyages between Japan and Europe to exchange materials, but when that became impractical, submarines began to carry them out. The Japanese component of this submarine effort was known as the , or more formally the . The first submarine to attempt a''Yanagi'' mission was , which made a trip from Japan to German-occupied

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and back to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

between April and October 1942, but struck a British

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

and sank before she could return to Japan. While ''I-8'' was in Japan, her direct assignment to the 6th Fleet ended on 1 April 1943 when she was assigned to Submarine Division 14 in

Submarine Squadron 8 A submarine squadron (SUBRON) is a naval formation or unit in such states such as the United Kingdom, United States, and Russia/Soviet Union. In France the equivalent unit is the ' (ESNA), part of the French submarine forces (and before the Second ...

in the 6th Fleet. With her overhaul complete, ''I-8'' was selected for the second ''Yanagi'' mission. Commanded by

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Shinji Uchino, ''I-8'' conducted refueling exercises in the Iyo-nada in the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka ...

with the submarine from 17 to 19 May 1943. Assigned directly to Submarine Squadron 8 on 25 May 1943, she departed Kure on 1 June 1943 accompanied by ''I-10'' and the submarine tender . Her cargo included two Type 95 oxygen-propelled torpedoes,

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, drawings of an automatic

trim Trim or TRIM may refer to: Cutting * Cutting or trimming small pieces off something to remove them ** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process ** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees Decoration * Trim (sewing), or ...

system, and a new

Yokosuka E14Y The Yokosuka E14Y ( Allied reporting name Glen) was an Imperial Japanese Navy reconnaissance seaplane transported aboard and launched from Japanese submarine aircraft carriers such as the during World War II. The Japanese Navy designation was ...

(Allied reporting name "Glen") reconnaissance floatplane. A supplementary crew of 48 men — commanded by

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

Sadatoshi Norita and intended to man a German submarine, the Type IXC/40

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

, and bring her back to Japan for

reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...

— was also packed into the submarine, and a Constructor

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

Nishihara also made the voyage so that he could study German

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...

engines. Norita's crew and Nishihara brought the number of men aboard ''I-8'' for the voyage to 160, creating very cramped conditions aggravated by the amount of cargo on board. Most of Norita's men were accommodated in the forward torpedo room, and to make room for them, ''I-8'' carried only the six torpedoes loaded in her torpedo tubes during the voyage. The three vessels paused in Saeki Gulf, then got back underway on 2 June 1943 to head south. From 10 to 22 June, ''I-8'' called at

, where she took on board

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg cr ...

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

, and raw

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

. She arrived at

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

in Japanese-occupied

British Malaya The term "British Malaya" (; ms, Tanah Melayu British) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. U ...

on 23 June 1943, With a cargo that also included

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...

and probably medicinal

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

, she departed Penang on 27 June in company with ''I-10'' and headed across the

, refueling from ''I-10'' at on 1 July and again at on 6 July 1943 before detaching from ''I-10'' and proceeding alone. On 21 July 1943, ''I-8'' entered the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

south of the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

on the southern tip of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. Over the next ten days she encountered fierce storms which damaged her upper deck and aircraft

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

and was rarely able to make more than . During this time she received her first radio message from the German ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

'', which provided warning of Allied air patrols and

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

facilities. ''I-8'' crossed the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

heading northward on 2 August 1943. On 20 August, she rendezvoused with the German submarine — under the command of ''

Korvettenkapitän () is the lowest ranking senior officer in a number of Germanic-speaking navies. Austro-Hungary Belgium Germany Korvettenkapitän, short: KKpt/in lists: KK, () is the lowest senior officer rank () in the German Navy. Address The offici ...

'' Albrecht Achilles — in the Atlantic Ocean south of the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

, and an ''

Oberleutnant zur See ''Oberleutnant zur See'' (''OLt zS'' or ''OLZS'' in the German Navy, ''Oblt.z.S.'' in the ''Kriegsmarine'') is traditionally the highest rank of Lieutenant in the German Navy. It is grouped as OF-1 in NATO. The rank was introduced in the Imper ...

'' and two

petty officer A petty officer (PO) is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotation OR-5 or OR-6. In many nations, they are typically equal to a sergeant in comparison to other military branches. Often they may be superior ...

s transferred from ''U-161'' to ''I-8'' to install a

radar detector A radar detector is an electronic device used by motorists to detect if their speed is being monitored by police or law enforcement using a radar gun. Most radar detectors are used so the driver can reduce the car's speed before being ticketed ...

— either a FuMB 1 Metox 600A or a FuMB 9 Wanze, according to different sources — on her

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, which made ''I-8'' the first Japanese submarine with a radar detector. ''I-8''′s crew presented ''U-161'' with a four-gallon tank of

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

, and the two submarines parted company, with the three Germans remaining aboard ''I-8'' to guide her into port in German-occupied

. ''U-161'' was sunk with the loss of all 53 men on board on 27 September 1943, making them the only survivors of ''U-161''′s final patrol. I-8Brest

The Germans assigned ''I-8'' the code name ''Flieder'' ("

Lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering plant, flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and wid ...

"). After she entered the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

on 29 August 1943, the ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'' sent

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast ...

aircraft of ''Kampfgeschwader'' 40 to provide air cover. Several ''Kriegsmarine'' destroyers also escorted her as she approached

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

, France. After the German torpedo boats , , and swept a safe channel through the defensive field of magnetic influence mines protecting the harbor, arrived at Brest safely on 31 August 1943, a German tug assisting her in docking in one of the

submarine pen A submarine pen (''U-Boot-Bunker'' in German) is a type of submarine base that acts as a bunker to protect submarines from air attack. The term is generally applied to submarine bases constructed during World War II, particularly in Germany and ...

s there as a German

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the tit ...

played.

=In Europe

= A German delegation led by the commander of the ''Kriegsmarines ''Marineoberkommando der West'' ("Naval High Command of the West"),

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Theodor Krancke __NOTOC__ Theodor Krancke (30 March 1893 – 18 June 1973) was a naval commander (admiral) of Nazi Germany during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Under the command of Krancke, during the fiv ...

, warmly greeted ''I-8''′s crew, which turned out on deck in their dress blue uniforms for the occasion, and presented them with German military decorations. Over the next month, the Germans held parties for the Japanese and organized visits to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

for them. The Germans also hosted the Japanese at a luxurious leisure facility at Chateau de Trévarez, overlooking Chateauneuf de Faou. German news agencies highlighted ''I-8''′s visit, announcing that "now even Japanese submarines are operating in the Atlantic." While in port, ''I-8'' was fitted with a

.Edwards, p.203. For her return voyage, ''I-8'' loaded a cargo that included German equipment, including

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

bomb sight A bombsight is a device used by military aircraft to drop bombs accurately. Bombsights, a feature of combat aircraft since World War I, were first found on purpose-designed bomber aircraft and then moved to fighter-bombers and modern tactical a ...

s for horizontal bombers and

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

s, quad 20 mm

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

s, anti-aircraft

gunsight A sight is an aiming device used to assist in visually aligning ranged weapons, surveying instruments or optical illumination equipments with the intended target. Sights can be a simple set or system of physical markers that have to be aligne ...

s, a

Daimler-Benz The Mercedes-Benz Group Aktiengesellschaft, AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It ...

MB 501 20-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

torpedo boat

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

for German S-boats (known to the Allies as "

E-boat E-boat was the Western Allies' designation for the fast attack craft (German: ''Schnellboot'', or ''S-Boot'', meaning "fast boat") of the Kriegsmarine during World War II; ''E-boat'' could refer to a patrol craft from an armed motorboat to a lar ...

s"),

marine chronometer A marine chronometer is a precision timepiece that is carried on a ship and employed in the determination of the ship's position by celestial navigation. It is used to determine longitude by comparing Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or in the modern ...

s, radars,

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

equipment, electric torpedoes, and

precious metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lustre. ...

s, as well as

penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' moulds, principally '' P. chrysogenum'' and '' P. rubens''. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using ...

. As passengers she embarked Rear Admiral Tadao Yokoi, the Japanese

naval attaché A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

to Berlin since 1940; Captain Sukeyoshi Hosoya, the Japanese naval attaché to France since December 1939; three German naval officers; four German radar and

hydrophone A hydrophone ( grc, ὕδωρ + φωνή, , water + sound) is a microphone designed to be used underwater for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones are based on a piezoelectric transducer that generates an electric potenti ...

technicians; and four German civilians.

=Return to Japan

= ''I-8'' departed Brest on 5 October 1943 with a strong escort of ''Kriegsmarine'' vessels. After crossing the equator southbound, she sent the second position report of her voyage to the ''Kriegsmarine''. Allied

signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...

detected her transmission and used

high-frequency direction finding High-frequency direction finding, usually known by its abbreviation HF/DF or nickname huff-duff, is a type of radio direction finder (RDF) introduced in World War II. High frequency (HF) refers to a radio band that can effectively communicate over ...

to plot her position. The next day, an Allied

antisubmarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

aircraft attacked her, but she escaped by crash-diving. ''I-8'' encountered another storm while passing through the "

Roaring Forties The Roaring Forties are strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40°S and 50°S. The strong west-to-east air currents are caused by the combination of air being displaced from the Equator ...

" which delayed her and damaged her bridge. By November 1943 she had reached the Indian Ocean, where she affixed the ''

hinomaru The national flag of Japan is a rectangular white banner bearing a crimson-red circle at its center. This flag is officially called the , but is more commonly known in Japan as the . It embodies the country's sobriquet: the Land of the Rising S ...

'' national identification marking to her

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...

just as a Japanese plane buzzed her, possibly avoiding a mistaken attack by the aircraft. Critically low on fuel, she attempted to contact the Japanese base at Penang and other Japanese submarines for assistance, but without success. She nonetheless arrived safely at Penang on 2 December 1943. Departing Penang on 4 December 1943, she reached Singapore on 5 December, and Kure on 21 December 1943 after a round-trip voyage of . She subsequently moved to the

Tamano is a city located in southern Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The city was officially founded on August 3, 1940. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 60,101 and a population density of 580 persons per km². The total area i ...

Shipyard in

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefectur ...

for a refit. One of only seven submarines, and one of only five Japanese submarines, to attempt a voyage between Japan and Europe during World War II, ''I-8'' gained the distinction of becoming the only submarine to complete a round trip between Japan and Europe during the war. In addition to ''I-30'', sunk in the only ''Yanagi'' mission prior to ''I-8''′s voyage, the three submarines which attempted ''Yanagi'' missions after ''I-8'' — , sunk by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

submarine on 13 November 1943; , sunk by U.S. Navy aircraft on 24 June 1944; and , sunk by the U.S. Navy submarine on 26 July 1944 — all were lost during their voyages. Of the two German submarines that attempted Europe-to-Japan trips analogous to the Japanese ''Yanagi'' missions, made only a one-way trip, being sold to the Imperial Japanese Navy after her arrival in Japan in September 1943, and was sunk on only the third day of her outbound voyage in August 1944.

War crimes under Ariizumi

While ''I-8'' was in Japan, she received a new crew, and Commander Tatsunosuke Ariizumi became her new commanding officer on 15 January 1944. ''I-8'' subsequently gained infamy for war crimes during the war patrols she conducted under his command because of his and his crew's treatment of Allied

prisoners-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

.Ships from Hell: Japanese War Crimes on the High Seas in World War II, Raymond Lamont-Brown, The History Press, 2013, , 9780752494838

=Ariizumi's first war patrol: SS ''Tjisalak''

= ''I-8'' departed Kure on 21 February 1944 and proceeded to Penang, which she reached on 10 March 1944. She got underway from Penang on either 15 or 19 March 1944 (sources disagree) for a war patrol in the Indian Ocean off the

Maldive Islands Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

. On 26 March 1944, ''I-8'' attacked the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

5,787- gross register ton armed

passenger-cargo ship A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to conta ...

,Edwards, pp. 170–171. which had departed

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, on 7 March 1944 bound for

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, with a cargo of 6,640 tons of bagged

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

Edwards, p. 167. and with 101 men and one woman — 27 passengers, 10 gunners, and a crew of 65 — aboard according to one source, although sources also claim 97, 101, or 103 people were aboard. ''Tjisalak''′s crew sighted the incoming torpedoes at 05:45, and she had just begun an evasive turn when two torpedoes hit her, stopping her engine, puncturing her fuel tanks, knocking out her electrical lighting, blowing open the hatch of her No. 3

hold Hold may refer to: Physical spaces * Hold (ship), interior cargo space * Baggage hold, cargo space on an airplane * Stronghold, a castle or other fortified place Arts, entertainment, and media * Hold (musical term), a pause, also called a Fermat ...

and wrecking the

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attache ...

es and

derrick A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and a ...

s around it, knocking down her main and emergency aerials,Edwards, p. 171. and jamming her

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

hard to

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

, forcing her to steam in circles.Edwards, p. 172. Her crew launched three lifeboats, and the gunner manning one of her Oerlikon 20-millimeter automatic cannon opened fire on the twin

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 ...

s of ''I-8'', which was surfacing off ''Tjisalak''′s port quarter, marking ''I-8''′s position for ''Tjisalak''′s gun, then ceased fire and jumped overboard. The gun opened fire on ''I-8'' at 05:48, firing three rounds which landed close aboard ''I-8'', prompting ''I-8'' to submerge again.Edwards, p. 173. When ''I-8'' again began to surface, the gun fired four more rounds at her and forced her to submerge again before ''Tjisalak'', still underway and circling to port, turned so far that the gun no longer would bear on ''I-8''. The gun ceased fire at 06:00 and its crew abandoned ship just before ''Tsijalak'' rolled onto her beam ends and sank by the

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 ...

south of Colombo at . Three crewmen died in the sinking, but the survivors gathered in the three lifeboats, two of which were damaged and leaking.Edwards, p. 174. ''I-8'' surfaced again within of two of the boats. An ''I-8'' crewmen began calling for ''Tjisalak''′s captain to identify himself and crewmen gestured for the two closest lifeboats to come alongside.Edwards, p. 175. After they did, ''Tjisalak''′s captain identified himself, and he, three other of the sunken ship′s officers, and three of her passengers — including the lone woman aboard, an

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

nurse — were taken below. ''I-8''′s crew then threatened the third lifeboat with her 25-millimeter antiaircraft guns, forcing it to come alongside as well. ''I-8''′s crew forced all of the survivors other than the seven they had taken below to squat on deck, threatened them with

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

s, and

swords A sword is a cutting and/or thrusting weapon. Sword, Swords, or The Sword may also refer to: Places * Swords, Dublin, a large suburban town in the Irish capital * Swords, Georgia, a community in the United States * Sword Beach, code name for ...

, and searched them roughly, confiscating anything of monetary value. Tied together in twos, the European and Chinese crew members were taken two-by-two aft of ''I-8''′s

, where they were slashed with

and beaten with

monkey wrench The monkey wrench is a type of adjustable wrench, a 19th century American refinement of 18th-century English coach wrenches. It was widely used in the 19th and early 20th century. It is of interest as an antique among tool collectors and is st ...

es and

sledgehammer A sledgehammer is a tool with a large, flat, often metal head, attached to a long handle. The long handle combined with a heavy head allows the sledgehammer to gather momentum during a swing and apply a large force compared to hammers designed t ...

s before the Japanese shot them and kicked them overboard.Edwards, pp. 177–179. in at least some cases, one of the men was forced to watch the shooting of the other man brought aft with him before he, too, was shot.Edwards, pp. 181. Those who jumped overboard were shot in the water, and at least three of ''I-8''′s crew sat comfortably in chairs on deck and laughed while firing rifles at men struggling in the sea.Edwards, p. 179. ''I-8''′s crew then beheaded ''Tsijalak''′s

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

sailors one by one while a cameraman filmed the killings.Edwards, p. 179. Brought onto ''I-8''′s

during the massacre, ''Tsijalak''′s captain underwent a harsh interrogation there and then was killed with a sword.Edwards, p. 184. The other six people taken below decks before the massacre also did not survive, and postwar testimony revealed that the American nurse was taken on deck and shot to death on the evening of 26 March. Only five or six men (sources disagree) survived the massacre; they found a

life raft A lifeboat or liferaft is a small, rigid or inflatable boat carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard a ship. Lifeboat drills are required by law on larger commercial ships. Rafts (raft, liferafts) are also used. In t ...

lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen ...

(sources disagree) and the American

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...

later rescued them. On 30 March 1944, ''I-8''′s Watanabe E9W1 (Allied reporting name "Slim") floatplane sighted the British 6,589-gross register ton armed

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are u ...

in the Indian Ocean southeast of

Diego Garcia Diego Garcia is an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory, a disputed overseas territory of the United Kingdom. It is a militarised atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, and the largest of the 60 small islands o ...

in the

Chagos Archipelago The Chagos Archipelago () or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives archi ...

during a reconnaissance flight. The plane vectored ''I-8'' to intercept ''City of Adelaide'' — which was steaming independently in ballast from

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

— then returned to ''I-8''. After dark, ''I-8'' fired one torpedo at ''City of Adelaide'' which struck her amidships. She took on a heavy

list A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...

and, after transmitting a

distress signal A distress signal, also known as a distress call, is an internationally recognized means for obtaining help. Distress signals are communicated by transmitting radio signals, displaying a visually observable item or illumination, or making a soun ...

, her crew and gunners abandoned ship. ''I-8'' then surfaced and sank ''City of Adelaide'' with gunfire at . At 06:07 on 11 April 1944, a Japanese submarine — apparently ''I-8'' — fired four torpedoes about four minutes apart at the American armed

T2 tanker The T2 tanker, or T2, was a class of oil tanker constructed and produced in large quantities in the United States during World War II. Only the T3 tankers were larger "navy oilers" of the period. Some 533 T2s were built between 1940 and the end of ...

in the Indian Ocean at . Two of the torpedoes passed along each side of ''Yamhill''. ''Yamhill'', which was on a voyage from

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

to Fremantle with a cargo of oil intended for use by U.S. Navy submarines, reported that she was under submarine attack and requested air cover. The submarine surfaced about from ''Yamhill'' and a 12-hour chase ensued in which the vessels exchanged fire, ''Yamhill''′s gun outranging the submarine's gun by about . At around sundown, after the submarine had fired about 20 rounds and ''Yamhill'' had fired 38, a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Catalina Catalina may refer to: Arts and media * ''The Catalina'', a 2012 American reality television show * ''Catalina'' (novel), a 1948 novel by W. Somerset Maugham * Catalina (''My Name Is Earl''), character from the NBC sitcom ''My Name Is Earl'' ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

arrived and forced the submarine to submerge, allowing ''Yamhill'' to escape in the growing darkness. On 16 April 1944, ''I-8'' sank a

sailing vessel A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships ...

with gunfire off

Addu Atoll Addu Atoll, also known as Seenu Atoll, is the southernmost atoll of the Maldives. Addu Atoll, together with Fuvahmulah, located 40 km north of Addu Atoll, extend the Maldives into the Southern Hemisphere. Addu Atoll is located 540 k ...

in the Maldives. She concluded her patrol on 5 May 1944 with her return to Penang.

=Ariizumi's second war patrol: SS ''Jean Nicolet''

= ''I-8'' began her next war patrol on 10 June 1944, assigned a patrol area in the Indian Ocean off

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. While en route, she torpedoed the British 6,942-gross register ton armed

''Nellore'' — which was on a voyage from

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

in British India to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia, carrying 174 passengers including British troops and 2,720 tons of general cargo including government stores — in the Indian Ocean southwest of Diego Garcia at at 23:45 on 29 June 1944.Edwards, p. 207. Two torpedoes struck ''Nellore'', which caught fire and went dead in the water, and her survivors abandoned ship in nine lifeboats. ''I-8'' surfaced and brought aboard 11 of the survivors — a gunner and 10 passengers, — and then sank the blazing ''Nellore'' with gunfire at around 02:45 on 30 June 1944. A total of 79 people from ''Nellore'' — 35 crew members, five gunners, and 39 passengers — lost their lives before the Royal Navy

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

and a Royal Air Force

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

rescued her remaining survivors. Several of ''Nellore''′s survivors mistakenly claimed that she had been sunk in an attack by as many as three German submarines. On 2 July 1944, ''I-8'' was involved in another atrocity when she attacked the American 7,176-gross register ton armed Liberty ship .Edwards, p. 204. ''Jean Nicolet'' had departed San Pedro,

, on 12 May 1944 bound for

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, India via

, and

, with 69 crew and

United States Navy Armed Guard United States Navy Armed Guard units were established during World War II and headquartered in New Orleans.World War II U.S. Navy Armed Guard and World War II U.S. Merchant Marine, 2007-2014 Project Liberty Ship, Project Liberty Ship, P.O. Box 2 ...

personnel and 30

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

passengers aboard — although one source claims that a toal of 100, rather than 99, men were on board — and carrying a U.S. Army cargo of heavy machinery,

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

plates, and

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 ...

in her holds and mooring pontoons and unassembled landing

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s on her deck. She had gotten underway for the second leg of the voyage on 21 June 1944 after an overnight stop at Fremantle.Edwards, p. 205. Advised on 27 June 1944 to alter course to the west to avoid the area where ''I-8'' had sunk ''Nellore'' to the north that day, ''Jean Nicolet''′s′ crew sighted what her

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

thought was the smoke of an Allied

Victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slight ...

on her port quarter on the morning of 2 July 1944 and watched it overtake ''Jean Nicolet'' during the day, reaching a point off her starboard bow at sunset.Edwards, p. 206. The "smoke' in fact was diesel exhaust as she raced to get ahead of ''Jean Nicolet'' and achieve a position for an attack. At 19:00 on 2 July, ''Jean Nicolet'' was in the Indian Ocean north-northeast of

and south of Ceylon about off the Maldives. At 19:07, two torpedoes from ''I-8'' struck her in 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, one between her

forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...

and

and one in her No. 4 hold. Shortly after the torpedoes hit, ''Jean Nicolet'' transmitted a

and all on board abandoned ship in her four lifeboats and two life rafts. ''I-8'' surfaced and opened gunfire on ''Jean Nicolet''.Edwards, p. 210. ''I-8'' then began searching for ''Jean Nicolet''′s survivors with a

searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...

while a member of her crew called out for ''Jean Nicolet''′s captain to identify himself. She approached one of the lifeboats and under threat of being shot forced everyone aboard it onto ''I-8''′s deck, where a member of ''I-8''′s crew almost immediately killed ''Jean Nicolet''′s

cabin boy ''Cabin Boy'' is a 1994 American fantasy comedy film, directed by Adam Resnick and co-produced by Tim Burton, which starred comedian Chris Elliott. Elliott co-wrote the film with Resnick. Both Elliott and Resnick worked for '' Late Night with Dav ...

with a single

pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...

shot to the head and kicked his body overboard. ''I-8''′s crew then riddled the empty lifeboat with

automatic weapon An automatic firearm is an auto-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firearm is capable of harvesting the excess energy released from a previous discharge ...

s fire, confiscated the survivors′

lifejacket A personal flotation device (PFD; also referred to as a life jacket, life preserver, life belt, Mae West, life vest, life saver, cork jacket, buoyancy aid or flotation suit) is a flotation device in the form of a vest or suite that is worn by a ...

s, shoes, and anything of value they had, then bound them and forced them to sit on ''I-8''′s deck.Edwards, p. 211. ''I-8''′s crew then approached a raft with 10 men aboard and ordered its occupants to come aboard, firing automatic weapons at five men who slipped away in the darkness but bringing the other five onto ''I-8''′s deck. ''I-8''′s crew repeated the process with the other raft and boats, bringing all the survivors aboard except for the five who had escaped from the first raft. After the Japanese searched the survivors, took their lifejackets, bound them, questioned them, and forced them all to sit on ''I-8''′s forward deck, ''I-8'' got underway and circled the area while her crew destroyed all the lifeboats and life rafts with automatic weapons fire.Edwards, p. 212. Her crew then forced ''Jean Nicolet''′s survivors to watch while the Japanese again opened gunfire on their ship, making no effort to save two bound survivors who were swept overboard by ''I-8''′s

bow wave A bow wave is the wave that forms at the bow of a ship when it moves through the water. As the bow wave spreads out, it defines the outer limits of a ship's wake. A large bow wave slows the ship down, is a risk to smaller boats, and in a harbor ...

and drowned. Around midnight, a Japanese

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

armed with a

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

approached the survivors and demanded that ''Jean Nicolet''′s captain identify himself on pain of death. After he did, he and ''Jean Nicolet''′s radio officer and a third man were led aft of ''I-8''′s

, and the other survivors never saw them again.Edwards, p. 213. One by one over the next several hours, the rest of the survivors then also were led aft of the conning tower, forced to run a gauntlet of clubs, pipes,

bayonet A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...

s, knives, and swords, and then shoved overboard to drown.Edwards, p. 214. With 30 bound survivors still on deck and awaiting their turn to run the gauntlet, ''I-8'' detected an incoming aircraft on radarEdwards, p. 215. and abruptly crash-dived, plunging them into the ocean to drown as the submarine submerged beneath them. A

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

Canso The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) is a representative body of companies that provide air traffic control. It represents the interests of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs). CANSO members are responsible for supporting ov ...

soon passed low over the area. Some of the survivors managed to untie themselves and others, and some of them began to swim toward the burning ''Jean Nicolet'', which was about away, but before they could reach her, the ship sank on 3 July 1944 about hours after sunrise at . At around 12:00 on 4 July 1944, a

flying boat sighted the men in the water, and the

armed trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built t ...

rescued the remaining survivors on the afternoon of 4 July, about 30 or 34 hours (according to different sources) after ''I-8'' submerged. Sources disagree on the number of deaths and survivors. One source identifies the three men ''I-8''′s crew took aft before the massacre began as ''Jean Nicolet''′s captain, chief officer, and radio officer, another identifies them as the captain, radio officer, and a civilian passenger and says that they were taken below, and yet another source claims that ''I-8''′s crew took five men below. Sources differ on the number of survivors, but one asserts that ''Hoxa'' rescued 23 men and that 77 died in the sinking and massacre, implying that all men taken below before the massacre also were murdered, but one source claims that only four men survived. One source asserts that ''I-8''′s crew took five prisoners-of-war from ''Jean Nicolet'' to Japan, where one of them, Francis J. O'Gara, was found alive in a

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...

after World War II. That source claims that a new Liberty ship, , had been named after him by that time in the belief that he had been killed in the ''Jean Nicolet'' incident, making O'Gara the only living person to have a Liberty ship named after him. ''I-8'' concluded her patrol with her arrival at Penang on either 8 or 14 August 1944, according to different sources.

=August–November 1944

= When the German submarine arrived at Penang on 9 September 1944, Ariizumi joined the commander — Rear Admiral Jisaku Ouzumi — and staff of Submarine Squadron 8 in welcoming the German crew. On 11 September 1944, ''U-862'' hosted a visit by Ouzumi, Arriizumi, and ''I-8''′s officers, and later that day ''U-862''′s commanding officer, ''Korvettenkapitän''

Heinrich Timm Heinrich Timm (30 April 1910 in Bremen – 12 April 1974 in Axstedt) was a German U-boat commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. In 1944-45 Timm commanded the U-862, the only U-boat to conduct a patrol in th ...

, and his officers visited ''I-8''. ''I-8'' departed Penang later in September 1944 and arrived on 9 October 1944 at Yokosuka, where she underwent a refit, repairs, and modifications, including the removal of her hangar and

aircraft catapult An aircraft catapult is a device used to allow aircraft to take off from a very limited amount of space, such as the deck of a vessel, but can also be installed on land-based runways in rare cases. It is now most commonly used on aircraft carrier ...

and their replacement with fittings for ''

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 ...

'' manned

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 ...

torpedoes. On 5 November 1944, Ariizumi relinquished command for a new assignment.

=Postwar prosecution of crew

= The high or total loss of life aboard merchant ships ''I-8'' sank while Ariizumi was in command suggested to Allied investigators that Ariizumi and his men may have committed additional war crimes beyond those documented in the ''Tjisalak'' and ''Jean Nicolet'' incidents. Ariizumi, who had encouraged and participated in the murders, had reached the rank of captain and was the commander of Submarine Division 1 when he committed suicide aboard his flagship, the submarine , while she was in the

Philippine Sea The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean east of the Philippine archipelago (hence the name), the largest in the world, occupying an estimated surface area of . The Philippine Sea Plate forms the floor of the sea. Its ...

on 30 August 1945 and making her way to Japan to surrender to the Allies in the immediate aftermath of the cessation of hostilities. Few of ''I-8''′s crew during his time in command survived the war, but Allied investigators located three of them after the war and prosecuted them. One, found in the United States, was granted immunity in return for testifying against his former comrades and was then allowed to return to the United States. The others were convicted and served prison terms, which the

Japanese government The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, c ...

commuted in 1955.

Okinawa campaign

Despite her new ''kaiten'' fittings, ''I-8'' had no ''kaiten'' on board when she departed Saeki with the submarines , , and on 18 March 1945 to operate south 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 ...

. She returned to Saeki on 19 March for repairs, but again got underway on 20 March 1945 to begin her patrol. The preliminaries of the

began on 26 March 1945, when American forces began landing on 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 ...

. At 18:05 on 28 March 1945, she transmitted a message reporting that she had sighted two Allied transports and four destroyers from

Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area i ...

, bearing 150 degrees. The Japanese never heard from her again.

Loss

On 31 March 1945, the U.S. Navy destroyer detected a surface target on radar while screening a task group off the Kerama Islands. She approached the contact, which turned out to be ''I-8''. ''I-8'' crash-dived, after which ''Stockton'' made sonar contact on her. Over the next four hours, ''Stockton'' expended all of her

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

s in seven attacks against ''I-8''. ''I-8'' surfaced just as the destroyer arrived on the scene to reinforce ''Stockton''. ''I-8'' immediately submerged again, but ''Morrison'' dropped a pattern of depth charges that forced ''I-8'' to surface from ''Morrison''. After a 30-minute exchange of gunfire, ''I-8''

capsize Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fro ...

d and sank by the

in the

at . One of ''Morrison''′s boats picked up an unconscious petty officer who had been a member of ''I-8''′s gun crew, and he was ''I-8''′s only survivor. On 10 April 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared ''I-8'' to be presumed lost in the Okinawa area. The Japanese struck her from the navy list on 10 August 1945.

Notes

References

* *

External links

Article with pictures of I-8 stay in France from a Kriegsmarine reel (French text) from www.lazaloeil.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:I-008 Junsen type submarines Ships built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries 1936 ships World War II submarines of Japan Maritime incidents in March 1945 Friendly fire incidents of World War II Japanese war crimes Japanese submarines lost during World War II Submarines sunk by United States warships World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea