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Sub likely came
from Okinawa

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By Burl Burlingame
Star-Bulletin

The center section of a mysterious Imperial Japanese "midget" submarine found off Pearl Harbor last week likely came from Okinawa, experts believe.

During a search for the midget submarine sunk by the USS Ward in the first American battle of World War II, scientists from the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory came across the center section nearly a thousand feet down, a little more than a mile south of the reef runway.

Midget submarines captured in Okinawa were almost identical to the Pearl Harbor midgets, said James Delgado, director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, who keeps a file on missing Japanese submarines.

The piece of the submarine, nearly 30 feet long, includes the conning tower.

The front and back ends are missing, separated at a point on the hull where they normally were bolted into place. The front end contains the torpedoes, the back end the engine. A midget submarine back end was discovered nearby in 1992.

The rear of the center section is badly damaged, likely from an internal scuttling charge set off by the Japanese crew. There is a hole punched in the front with a hawser still attached. These details do not not match descriptions of how the Ward's midget met its end, say experts, including USS Arizona Memorial historian Daniel Martinez.

"The Ward's midget was sunk in battle, likely in one piece," said Martinez.

There were, however, several midget submarines captured in Okinawa by the U.S. Navy in 1945 which then disappeared, Delgado said.

"There has always been speculation that these craft were brought to Hawaii, with other war booty, for study, and then jettisoned. The Navy kept no records, apparently," said Delgado. "Here, it would seem, is proof they did just that.

"It looks like this one got heaved off the deck when it was of no use anymore," Delgado said.