The , or more formally the , were a series of
submarine voyages undertaken by the
Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the
Second World War, to exchange technology, skills and materials with
Japan's
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
*Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...
partners, principally
Nazi Germany. These voyages had to run the gauntlet of the
Western Allies
The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. ...
naval superiority
Command of the sea (also called control of the sea or sea control) is a naval military concept regarding the strength of a particular navy to a specific naval area it controls. A navy has command of the sea when it is so strong that its rivals ...
in the
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 ...
and
Atlantic Oceans; of the five westbound voyages, three arrived safely, with two submarines sunk ''en route'', while of the three successful vessels only one completed her return voyage, with two sunk before reaching home.
The ''Yanagi'' missions were matched by several reciprocal voyages by German
U-boats, though these were outside the ''Yanagi'' scheme, as were several blockade-running cargo voyages to and from the
Far East.
The ''Yanagi'' missions
The ''Yanagi'' missions were:
In April 1942 departed
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 ...
,
Japan with a cargo of
mica and
shellac
Shellac () is a resin secreted by the female lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes and dissolved in alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze and w ...
, and plans of the
Type 91 aerial torpedo; after missions in the
Indian Ocean with other IJN submarines, she detached in June to proceed to
Lorient, arriving there in August 1942. She departed France later that month carrying German military technology, including plans for and a complete set of a
Würzburg radar
The low- UHF band Würzburg radar was the primary ground-based tracking radar for the Wehrmacht's Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during World War II. Initial development took place before the war and the apparatus entered service in 19 ...
, eight torpedoes and five torpedo data computers, anti-tank guns, diamonds, 20mm anti-aircraft guns, and fifty
Enigma machines, and arrived at
Singapore in October. However, she struck a British mine on leaving Singapore for the last stage to Japan. Some equipment was salvaged, but most was lost.
In June 1943 departed Kure with plans of the IJN's
Type 95 torpedo
The Type 95 torpedo was a torpedo used by submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
The Type 95 was based on the Type 93 torpedo ( ''Long Lance''); its mod 1 had a smaller and mod 2 had a larger warhead size than the Type ...
, a reconnaissance aircraft and submarine equipment, and collected a cargo of
tin,
rubber and
quinine at Singapore. She also carried a spare crew of 48 men from Kure tasked with bringing back a German U-boat,
''U-1224'', which the ''
Kriegsmarine'' had transferred to the IJN for examination and
reverse engineering. The ''I-8'' rendezvoused with the German submarine
''U-161'' from Lorient who transferred two German technicians who installed a radar detector. She arrived at
Brest in August. ''I-8'' departed France in October 1943 with a variety of German technology, including: bomb and anti-aircraft gunsights, marine chronometers, a Daimler-Benz torpedo boat engine, electric torpedoes, machine guns, and
penicillin, arriving at Kure in December after a round-trip voyage of .
In October 1943 departed Kure for Singapore. At Singapore, she picked up a cargo of tin,
tungsten, rubber and
opium. She departed Singapore on 11 November but was intercepted and sunk on 13 November in the
Straits of Malacca by the British submarine
HMS ''Taurus''.
In November 1943 departed Kure for Singapore to pick up a cargo of tin, tungsten,
zinc, rubber and quinine. She departed Singapore in December 1943 for Nazi-occupied France, and reached 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), ...
in March 1944. She was escorted by German warships and aircraft and came under heavy attack by Allied aircraft, but arrived safely at Lorient. ''I-29'' departed Lorient in April 1944 with considerable German technology, including a
Walter rocket engine and plans for the jet-powered
Me 262
The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed ''Schwalbe'' (German: "Swallow") in fighter versions, or ''Sturmvogel'' (German: " Storm Bird") in fighter-bomber versions, is a fighter aircraft and fighter-bomber that was designed and produced by the Germa ...
and the rocket-powered
Me 163. She arrived at Singapore in July, but was sunk with her cargo en route to Japan in the
Luzon Strait
The Luzon Strait (Tagalog: ''Kipot ng Luzon'', ) is the strait between Taiwan and Luzon island of the Philippines. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean.
This body of water is an i ...
by the American submarine
USS ''Sawfish'' on 26 July 1944.
In March 1944 left Kure with a cargo of metals, including gold, and a team of technicians who were to study German anti-aircraft techniques, stopping at Singapore to pick up other cargo, including rubber and opium. ''I-52'' reached the
South Atlantic and successfully rendezvoused with
''U-530'' from Lorient on 23 June to embark a German liaison officer, two radio operators, the current German naval code and a
Naxos radar detector. However, that night she was detected by
radar-equipped
Grumman TBF Avenger aircraft from an American
hunter-killer group centered on the
escort carrier USS ''Bogue'', which dropped
sonobuoy
A sonobuoy (a portmanteau of sonar and buoy) is a relatively small buoy – typically diameter and long – expendable sonar system that is dropped/ejected from aircraft or ships conducting anti-submarine warfare or underwater acoustic resea ...
s and
"Fido" homing torpedoes, sinking ''I-52'' with all hands (95 crew, 14 passengers and the three German sailors) near , west of the
Cape Verde Islands
, national_anthem = ()
, official_languages = Portuguese
, national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole
, capital = Praia
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, demonym ...
. It is believed that on her return voyage to Japan she would have been carrying
uranium oxide
Uranium oxide is an oxide of the element uranium.
The metal uranium forms several oxides:
* Uranium dioxide or uranium(IV) oxide (UO2, the mineral uraninite or pitchblende)
* Diuranium pentoxide or uranium(V) oxide (U2O5)
* Uranium trioxide or ...
.
''I-52's'' voyage was the last ''Yanagi'' mission undertaken by the IJN.
Reciprocal voyages
The German
U-boat arm made several reciprocal exchange voyages, though these were outside the ''Yanagi'' scheme; they also made a number of blockade-running voyages, also separate from the ''Yanagi'' missions.
From February to June 1943 sailed to the
Indian Ocean from Kiel, meeting with ''I-29'' in the
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel (french: Canal du Mozambique, mg, Lakandranon'i Mozambika, pt, Canal de Moçambique) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about l ...
. ''U-180'' transferred
Subash Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperi ...
, future leader of the
Indian National Army, and received two tons of gold picked up from Penang in payment for German goods so far received.
In May 1943 sailed for Japan from Lorient, arriving in Kure in August. Code-named 'Marco Polo I' she was transferred to the IJN as an exchange in submarine technology, and was commissioned by them as ''RO-500''.
In February 1944 , code-named 'Marco Polo II', was transferred to the IJN at Kiel, commissioned as ''RO-501'' and set sail under a Japanese crew, to rendezvous with ''I-8'' to refuel, and proceed to Penang with precious metals, uncut optical glass, and blueprints and models for building
Type IX U-boats and Messerschmitt Me 163 ''Komet'' rocket planes. She was intercepted and sunk west of the
Cape Verde
, national_anthem = ()
, official_languages = Portuguese
, national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole
, capital = Praia
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, demonym ...
islands by
USS ''Francis M. Robinson'' of the
hunter-killer group on 13 May.
On 5 December 1944 sailed from Bergen, Norway to deliver parts and plans for Me 262s and 1,857 flasks containing 65 tonnes of mercury under
Operation Caesar
Operation Caesar () was a secret mission carried out by Germany in the Second World War to supply Japan, with advanced technology. The operation failed due to the sinking of U-864 by a British submarine, the only known example of a submerged ...
. She ran aground and had to return to Bergen, which suffered a British bombing raid on 12 January 1945 that delayed repairs. ''U-864'' sailed again on 6 February 1945, but was detected and sunk by the British submarine
HMS ''Venturer'' in the
Norwegian Sea in the
action of 9 February 1945
During the action of 9 February 1945, , a V-class submarine of the Royal Navy, which was patrolling the waters around Fedje Island, off the Norwegian coast in the North Sea, attacked and sank the German U-boat . The sinking is the only incid ...
, the only time one submarine was sunk by another while submerged.
In March 1945 sailed from Kristiansand for Japan with 1,210 tons of uranium oxide, an Me 262 jet fighter, and plans for new electric torpedoes, the last attempt to be made, but she was overtaken by the German surrender and was taken into custody by the USN off
Newfoundland.
[Blair vol II p692-4]
Notes
References
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External links
''Yanagi missions''at history.net; retrieved 26 September 2018
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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Yanagi'' missions
Imperial Japanese Navy