Service history
Upon commissioning, I-372 was attached to the Sasebo Naval District and was assigned to Submarine Squadron 11 for workups. [2] She was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 7 on 8 January 1945. [2]
Transport operations
On 8 February 1945, I-372 departed Yokosuka bound for Takao on Formosa. [2] She was then to rescue Imperial Japanese Army Air Force pilots stranded at Batulinao in the Aparri area of northern Luzon in the Philippine Islands as a result of Japanese setbacks in the Philippines campaign, but after the submarines Ro-112 and Ro-113 were lost attempting to pick up the pilots, she received orders to abort the mission and return to Japan. [2] She arrived at Kure on 14 February 1945. [2]
The Japanese next considered sending I-372 to Iwo Jima with a cargo of artillery shells, but abandoned the idea. [2] Instead, on 16 February 1945 I-372 began conversion at the Kure Naval Arsenal into a tanker submarine capable of carrying 90 metric tons of aviation gasoline. [2] During her conversion, she probably also had a submarine snorkel installed. [2] In mid-March 1945 she moved to Yokosuka, and on 20 March 1945 Submarine Squadron 7 was deactivated and she was reassigned to Submarine Division 16 along with the submarines I-369, Ha-101, Ha-102, and Ha-104. [2]
On 1 April 1945, I-372 departed Yokosuka on a supply voyage to Wake Island. [2] On 4 April 1945, Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne (FRUMEL), an Allied signals intelligence unit headquartered at Melbourne, Australia, reported that it had intercepted and decrypted Japanese signal traffic indicating that a Japanese submarine would arrive at Wake Island on 17 April 1945 and begin several nights of unloading and loading operations there. [2] The United States Navy submarine USS Sea Owl (SS-405) was alerted to this at 04:00 on 16 April 1945 via an Ultra intelligence signal from Guam and moved to intercept the Japanese submarine. [2]
On 18 April 1945, Sea Owl detected I-372 on radar 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) northwest of Wake. [2] I-372′s radar detector failed to detect Sea Owl′s radar signal, and I-372 anchored at Wake without her crew realizing that any Allied forces were in the area. [2] Sea Owl approached the anchorage and fired three torpedoes at I-372 at a range of 1,600 yards (1,500 m). [2] Two of them failed to detonate, and the third missed I-372 but destroyed Wake Island's pier. [2] I-372 crash-dived, and after World War II the U.S. Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee erroneously credited Sea Owl with sinking the submarine Ro-56 that day. [2]
I-372 did not surface again until 19 April 1945, when she finished unloading her cargo — which included enough rice to feed Wake Island's garrison for ten days — and embarked 29 passengers. [2] She then got underway for Yokosuka, which she reached on 29 April 1945. [2]
I-372′s next supply run also was to Wake Island. She departed Yokosuka on 15 June 1945, [2] and FRUMEL again detected her movements, reporting that day that "A Japanese submarine left Tokyo Bay at 09:00 on 15th [June 1944] to pass 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) south of Nojima Saki at 20:00 on passage to Wake Island." [2] She avoided interception by Allied forces, however, and arrived at Wake on 28 June 1945, unloaded her cargo, and headed back to Yokosuka, where she arrived on 10 July 1945. [2]
USS Sea Owl (SS/AGSS-405), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the sea owl, a lumpfish of the North Atlantic Ocean.
I-41 was an Imperial Japanese Navy B2 type submarine. She was completed at Kure Navy Yard on 18 September 1943, whereupon she entered into service with the Imperial Japanese Navy Yokosuka Naval District, SubRon 11, and sailed to Yokosuka for final trials under the command of Lt. Commander Tamori Yoshimatsu. This was completed by 15 December 1943 and command was transferred to Lt. Commander Itakura Mitsuma. I-41 was reassigned to the Sixth Fleet in SubRon 1's Sub Division 15.
I-16 was one of five Type C cruiser submarines of the C1 sub-class built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, Commissioned in 1940, she deployed a midget submarine for the attack on Pearl Harbor and for an attack on ships at Diego-Suarez in Madagascar, conducted an anti-shipping patrol in the Indian Ocean, and took part in the Guadalcanal campaign, New Guinea campaign, and Bougainville campaign before she was sunk in May 1944.
The second I-54 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type B3 submarine. Completed and commissioned in March 1944, she served in World War II and took part in the Marianas campaign and the Philippines campaign before she was sunk in October 1944.
I-361 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type D1 transport submarine. Completed and commissioned in May 1944, she served in World War II and conducted transport missions between Japan and Wake Island until she was converted into a kaiten suicide attack torpedo carrier 1945. She was sunk during her first kaiten mission in May 1945.
I-362 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type D1 transport submarine. Completed and commissioned in May 1944, she served in World War II and conducted transport missions between Japan and outlying islands until she was sunk in January 1945.
I-363 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type D1 transport submarine. Completed and commissioned in July 1944, she served in World War II and conducted transport missions between Japan and outlying islands until she was converted into a kaiten suicide attack torpedo carrier. She survived the war, but sank after striking a mine in the weeks immediately following its conclusion.
I-365 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type D1 transport submarine. Completed and commissioned in August 1944, she served in World War II and was sunk while returning from her first transport mission in November 1944.
I-366 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type D1 transport submarine. Completed and commissioned in August 1944, she served in World War II and conducted transport missions between Japan and outlying islands until she was converted into a kaiten suicide attack torpedo carrier. She survived the war, surrendered to Allied forces in 1945, and was scuttled in 1946.
I-369 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type D1 transport submarine. Completed and commissioned in October 1944, she served in World War II and conducted transport missions between Japan and outlying islands. The last Japanese transport submarine to visit the Japanese base at Truk, she surrendered at the end of the war and was scrapped in 1946.
I-371 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type D1 transport submarine. Completed and commissioned in October 1944, she served in World War II and was sunk while returning from her first transport mission in February 1945.
I-373 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type D2 transport submarine. The only Type D2 submarine to be completed, she was commissioned in April 1945, and converted into a tanker submarine. In August 1945 became the last Japanese submarine sunk during World War II.
Ro-41 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Kaichū type submarine of the K6 sub-class. Completed and commissioned in November 1943, she served in World War II and conducted six war patrols, sinking a destroyer escort USS Shelton (DE-407) on one of them, before she was sunk in March 1945.
Ro-46 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Kaichū type submarine of the K6 sub-class. Completed and commissioned in February 1944, she served in World War II, including operations related to the Marianas campaign, the Philippines campaign, and the Battle of Okinawa. She disappeared in April 1945 during her fifth war patrol.
The second Ro-56 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Kaichū type submarine of the K6 sub-class. Completed and commissioned in November 1944, she served in World War II and was sunk during her first war patrol in April 1945.
Ro-104 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Ro-100-class submarine. Completed and commissioned in February 1943, she served in World War II, operating in the Aleutian Islands campaign, New Guinea campaign, and Solomon Islands campaign before she was sunk in May 1944 during her tenth war patrol.
Ro-105 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Ro-100-class submarine. Completed and commissioned in March 1943, she served in World War II, operating in the Aleutian Islands campaign, New Guinea campaign, and Solomon Islands campaign and in the vicinity of Truk, Rabaul, and the Admiralty Islands before she was sunk in May 1944 during her fourth war patrol.
Ro-108 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Ro-100-class submarine. Completed and commissioned in April 1943, she served in World War II, operating in the Solomon Islands campaign, the New Guinea campaign — during which she sank the United States Navy destroyer USS Henley (DD-391) — and off the Admiralty Islands. She was sunk in May 1944 during her fifth war patrol.
Ro-116 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Ro-100-class submarine. Completed and commissioned in January 1944, she served in World War II and was sunk in May 1944 during her second war patrol.
Ro-115 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Ro-100-class submarine. Completed and commissioned in November 1943, she served in World War II, operating in the central Pacific Ocean, the New Guinea campaign, the Indian Ocean, and off the Philippine Islands. She was sunk in February 1945 during her fifth war patrol.
Japan
