Kaiten Group "Tenmu"
Submarine I-47 and Submarine I-36
(Sortie 20, 22 April, 1945)
Submarine I-47
Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Yokota, Chief
Petty Officer Furukawa, Sub-lieutenant Kakizaki, Chief Staff Officer
Sasaki, Captain Orita, Chief Officer Nagai, Sub-lieutenant Maeda,
Petty Officer 1st Class Yamaguchi and Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class
Shinkai (Front from the left)
With Cherry blossoms
Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Yokota, Chief Petty Officer Furukawa,
Sub-lieutenant Kakizaki, Sub-lieutenant Maeda, Petty Officer 1st
Class Yamaguchi and Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Shinkai (From the
left)
Petty Officer Sato, Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Yokota, Unknown,
Chief Petty Officer Furukawa, Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Shinkai,
Petty Officer 1st Class Yamaguchi (From the left)
Just before the departure. At the quarter deck.
Answering the send-off, waving the swords and cherry blossoms on
Kaiten.
Submarine I-47 departed on 20 April,
heading for the area of sea east of Okinawa. Sub-lieutenant Kakizaki
(72nd Naval Academy graduate), Chief Petty Officer Shichiro Furukawa
and Petty Officer 1st Class Shigeo Yamaguchi died in the Kaiten
mission on 2 May.
Sub-lieutenant Hajime Maeda died in the Kaiten mission on 7 May.
Two of the Kaitens were not launched due to the disorder and came
back on 12 May.
Submarine I-36
Flight Petty Officer Matsuda, Flight Petty Officer Ebihara,
Sub-lieutenant Yagi, Captain Sugeyoshi, Commander Nagai, Ensign Kuge,
Flight Petty Officer Nomura and Flight Petty Officer Abe (Front from
the left)
With Cherry blossoms
Flight Petty Officer Matsuda, Flight Petty Officer Ebihara, Ensign
Kuge, Sub-lieutenant Yagi, Flight Petty Officer Nomura and Flight
Petty Officer Abe (From the left)
With his classmates, the 73rd Naval Academy graduates and the 54th
Naval Engineering School graduates
Sub-lieutenant Mine, Sub-lieutenant Tsubone, Sub-lieutenant Yagi,
Sub-lieutenant Nishiyama and Sub-lieutenant Higashijima (Front from
the left)
Sub-lieutenant Ikemoto, Sub-lieutenant Nachi and Sub-lieutenant Inoue
(Back from the left)
Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Abe, receiving a short sword
Kaiten pilots of the Submarine I-36 were saying farewell with flowers
in their hands, on the motor launch
The Submarine I-36 departed on 22 April,
heading for the area of sea east of Okinawa. Kaiten pilots,
Sub-lieutenant Teiji Yagi (54th Naval Engineering School graduate),
Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Hideo Abe, Flight Petty Officer 2nd
Class Mitsuo Matsuda, Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Kiyosaburo
Ebihara died in the Kaiten mission.
Two of the Kaitens were not launched due to the disorder and came
back on 30 April.
Next (Kaiten Group
"Shinbu")