Wednesday, May 7, 1997
What ever happened to the Japanese mini-submarine used in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor which a mainland museum refuses to return? Japanese mini-sub
remains in TexasIt is on loan to the Nimitz Foundation in Fredericksburg, Texas, where it has been on display since 1991. Randy Wester, chief ranger at the USS Arizona Memorial, said the submarine was permanently loaned to the National Park Service and was supposed to have been returned to Hawaii in 1995. It is now up to Secretary of the Navy John Dalton to determine whether the sub will remain in Texas.
It is at the Nimitz Museum, named after World War II Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Chester Nimitz.
The National Park Service still would like to include the two-man submarine in an expanded museum at the Arizona Memorial Visitor Center.
The sub drifted to the eastern shore of Oahu after the Pearl Harbor attack and beached on a reef off Waimanalo. It was taken to the mainland during the war and became an attraction during War Bond rallies. After that it was displayed at Key West, Fla., until the Navy base there closed in 1990. The sub was sent to Texas to be part of a 50th anniversary celebration of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.