It’s November 20, 1944. Under the waves of the Philippine Sea an Imperial Japanese Navy I-47 submarine pushes through the dark waters. It’s on a deadly mission and carrying a lethal cargo of 4 secret weapons.
Inside the I-47 Lieutenant Sekio Nishina stares at his old friend’s ashes, bracing himself for what is to come. The captain lets him know he has arrived at the location. He carefully holds the box as he walks to his fate.
On the roof the open hatch beckons him to his final voyage in a weapon of his own design. A weapon that promises to change the tide of the war. Nishina climbs inside and takes his spot in the cockpit.
Every design choice represents hours of work. The machine that will propel him on a one-way mission is a product of his own making. It's the Kaiten, manned torpedo.
The Kaiten is on a secret mission to test the stealthy underwater weapon by attempting to sink US navy ships that are anchored near the Ulithi atoll. Nishina sets down the urn of his friend and professionally checks over every dial, valve, and lever. He can't help but admire his handiwork.
“We’ve made a beautiful creature! ” He gets on the phone to communicate with the submarine captain who tells him that the targets are anchored dead ahead 4. 5 miles away.
“It’s been an honor! ” The Kaitens are released from the mothership of the submarine, each one being steered practically automatically, heading to the bearings that have been set on the rudimentary autopilots. But the speed is undeniable.
These are the fastest manned submarines in the world at the time. Each of the Kaitens have a slightly different route. They surface around half a mile from the target and then use their periscopes to get the final bearing.
Nishina looks through the periscope spotting many targets. There right in front of him is a beautiful sight. He can see several American ships.
They're sitting ducks. He sets his sights on the largest one and powers on. "In the name of honor and glorious victory!
" While heading for its target one of the Kaitens runs a ground on a sand bank. A massive explosion goes off. "Hey, did you hear that?
We are under attack! " "I can't see anything. " And the Americans are now warned that something is going on.
American sailors rush to the edge of the ships and look out into the distance but can't see anything. Inside his Kaiten Nishina carefully maneuvers on the shallow waters to prevent getting stuck, lowering his periscope to prevent him from being seen, sailing virtually blind. Another Kaiten is hit, this time by depth charges.
The Americans scramble to battle stations, but still can’t see anything. Nishina extends his periscope and again sees his target and adjusts course. His view is filled with the USS Mississinewa, a massive oiler.
He turns towards it, aiming square at its center. In the distance the third Kaiten gets stuck on torpedo netting, its struggling engine pouring out smoke that alerts the enemy. The American forces spot the periscope of the Kaiten tangled in the net and they open fire, tearing the relatively tiny submarine to pieces.
Nishina hopes they don’t see him, he’s so close, he can feel it. The submarine picks up speed, faster and faster it slips through the water, the target getting closer and closer. He takes what he feels will be his final breath and turns his gaze to see the remains of his friend one last time and his life flashing before his eyes.
In June of 1942, ensign Nishina was given grave information from senior officers. The hard fought battle of Midway was not a draw as it had been depicted in the Japanese news, but instead was a complete disaster for Japan. The battle had wiped out 4 out of 6 of Japan's best carriers.
Just as tragic was that the majority of Japan's best Navy pilots had also been lost in battle. Any advantage that Japan had held since the start of the war 7 months ago was now lost and even more alarming was the fact that America's power seemingly grew stronger each and every month. The future looked bleak and a decisive victory for Japan was seemingly impossible.
Desperate times would give birth to desperate measures. . .
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Use the link at the description and the code YARNHUB50 to get 2 times the video generation credits in your first month. Start your video career today. A few months later Nishina enrolls to begin training as a pilot in a midget submarine, makes friends with another pilot, Lieutenant Hiroshi Kuroki.
The small and stealthy vessels are meant to approach the enemy and fire torpedoes, slipping away silently. However, these submarines are already pretty much obsolete. American sonar has ensured they are practically undersea coffins.
While their hard-to-aim torpedoes mean that even successful infiltrations still result in failure. With the chances of success next to zero the men consider. .
. Why should they get destroyed without even sinking a single ship? “I agree, my friend.
I would want to take at least one of the American ships with me if I were to lose my life. . .
” With his friend's words a thought daunts on Nishina. What if they turned the submarines into torpedoes? The pair stare at each other in mutual understanding.
The war is going poorly for Japan and the Americans have many more ships and men. And so the two friends begin to draft sketches, long before the infamous kamikaze have been brought into service. Kuroki and Nishina make a plan to use the same tactic but under the sea.
They submit their proposals but the officials ignore them. That is until they write them in their own blood to prove their sincerity. Their radical plan to send a Japanese pilot to his guaranteed demise was difficult to stomach by the officials.
However, no one could deny its usefulness was obvious, so the Kaiten is given the go-ahead but with the condition that the pilot must be given a means of escape, an idea that the 2 designers soon abandoned as it was too complicated and unreliable to implement. When finally built, their undersea beast is no midget at 14. 7 meters long, 1 meter in diameter and weighing 8 tons.
It features just a single periscope, rudimentary controls and for navigation it has a gyroscope and a clock for timing turns. But it was all to deliver 1. 5 tons of explosive to its target.
The Kaiten pilots are sourced from Navy aircraft and officer training. Thousands passionately volunteer, but only a few hundred are selected. The chosen are handed to Kuroki and Nishina, and together they train and test the weapon.
There are no pilot's manuals so it’s the teachers' and students' job to test the weapons for flaws and issues. On one training mission Hiroshi Kuroki was piloting an early version of the Kaiten off the coast of Otsushima. With the bad weather Nishina tries desperately to warn his friend and tell him not to go.
The weather is poor but Kuroki insists on moving forward saying the conditions would be similar to those on combat missions. He dives and pushes on with the training. Kuroki's Kaiten dives too deep and propels its way towards the sea floor.
He wrestles with the controls as the rough seas and currents push him about, "Come on, my beauty! but the rough seas are just too much for the Kaiten. Out of control and to Hiroshi’s horror the submarine propels itself down and into the ocean floor.
Hiroshi tries everything, but it’s no use. This sea monster of his own design is now his undersea prison. He silently curses himself for abandoning the design of the escape hatch the Japanese Navy had insisted upon… But he also realises that the water pressure at this depth would have made it impossible to use.
Thinking quickly he tries to make some noise. Every five minutes he releases air from the compressed air bottles. The intention was that the bubbles would alert the surface vessels of his location.
At the surface the bad weather and low light make this plan futile. Out of options Kuroki calmly picks up a pen and writes a detailed incident report, insisting that the accident was entirely his fault, and that Nishina and the others who had warned him of the bad weather were not responsible. He finishes the letter with these words: "Long live the Emperor.
Long live the Empire of Japan. Long live the Imperial Navy. " Finally, as is tradition in Japan, he writes his death poem.
"This brave man, so filled with love for his country that he finds it difficult to die, is calling out to his friends and about to die. " He is found 10 hours after the impact, dead from oxygen deprivation. He was just 22 years old.
The accident was devastating for Nishina who looked forward to dying a glorious death alongside his friend. But now, all he could do is press on, alone Eventually, the crews are deemed mission ready, and the first mission is scheduled for November 20, 1944. On November 6, the men throw a party for the ‘fortunate’ 12 pilots selected for the first attack.
Among them is Nishina. They celebrate with sake and kachikure. Towards the end of the ceremony they are given swords, and they are chosen give speeches.
During his speech Nishina reveals he will go into battle alongside his fallen friend, Hiroshi Kuroki. He is going to take his ashes on board Kaiten number one and fulfill their promise to each other of attacking enemy ships together. The next morning the men enter into the three large submarines that will ferry them close to battle.
Aboard the submariners treat the pilots with the utmost respect. The crew watches on solemnly as the four pilots board the four craft. "Kuroki and I are honored to be the first to pilot our weapon into combat.
For Japan and the Emperor! " "The Japanese people will remember your honorable sacrifice. " The crew of I-47 present their four Kaiten pilots with a painting made by one of the crewmembers of a Kaiten destroying an American ship.
It is to be gifted to the Emperor. The 4 pilots each enter a submarine of their own and the mission is on. Moments later the latches release and the phone line severs.
Nishina quickly takes the helm of the machine and it’s away. Nishina hears explosions underwater and realizes that his friends have got into trouble. He rises towards the surface and speeds forward.
What he doesn't know: he's now the only Kaiten remaining, Japan's last hope for a victory on this day. The Americans all look out intently in search of periscopes but Nishina is already on his final approach to the ship with his periscope down. He’s at full speed now at 30 knots or 34 mph.
But he hardly notices the noise of the engine and the rushing of the water and sound fades into the distance as he considers his fate. "We've made it, my friend. " Nishina closes his eyes.
The warhead of his Kaiten touches the USS Mississinewa’s hull. The shock of the impact sets off the explosive charge. A huge explosion rips the massive oiler in two, splitting open its tanks and triggering a gigantic fire that illuminates the anchorage.
Secondary explosions rock the ship as its many gas tanks burst into bright orange fireballs. The ship burns out of control and sinks, claiming the lives of 63 men. Watching the Kaiten’s explosions in the distance the submarine crew believe that all 4 were successful and report a much higher success rate than happen in reality.
This false report inspires the Japanese to try more Kaiten missions, but very few are successful. In total, 106 young men sacrificed their lives piloting these horrific machines. According to United States sources only 3 ever hit their targets, claiming the lives of 187 Americans.
The pilots who volunteered to sacrifice everything for their homeland are remembered in the Kaiten Memorial Museum, located in the buildings on the island of Otsushima where the men trained for their last mission.
