Underwater Aircraft Carriers: Japan’s Secret Weapon
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Published 2020-05-28
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In August of 1945, as the world celebrates Imperial Japan’s surrender and the effective end of the second world war, the American’s make a puzzling discovery out in the Pacific. The US Navy has intercepted a Japanese submarine that’s unlike anything they’ve seen before. It’s by far the largest submarine ever constructed, at nearly twice the length of a typical German U-boat. But it’s what the submarine carries that truly baffles the Americans.
The Japanese I-400-Class submarine’s most unusual feature was that it carried three torpedo/dive bombers inside an internal hanger. In order to fit, these full size attack float planes had wings and tailplanes that could be folded. The submarines also featured a catapult launch system and a crane mechanism to recover the aircraft. The I-400 submarine was effectively the world’s first underwater aircraft carrier. It was also a formidable submarine in the conventional sense, heavily armed with torpedo tubes, an enormous deck gun and anti-aircraft cannons.
Conceived as a secret Japanese weapon at the start of the Pacific war, a fleet of I-400 submarines would be tasked with launching surprise attacks on New York, Washington, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. The attacks were intended to shake the will of the American people to keep fighting in the war. But as the war turned against Imperial Japan, shortages in war materials and shifting military priorities resulted in only 3 I-400 completing construction before Japan’s surrender. Fortunately, the I-400 was never allowed to demonstrate it’s true capacity.
Select footage courtesy the AP Archive:
AP Archive website: www.aparchive.com/ YouTube: youtube.com/c/aparchive and youtube.com/c/britishmovietone
Special thanks to Nick Arehart for helping clean up our audio:
twitter.com/airhrt_
Thanks for watching!
All Comments (21)
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I love the footage of the Americans walking around the sub, basically going “the frick is this?”
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8:25 "it took nearly a year to design [I-400]."
When you look at what it was supposed to do, it's surprisingly fast! -
Soviets: "May I take a look at the submarine?"
Americans: "no" *proceeds to blow up sub -
This concept is quite brilliant. Imaine the bombers replaced with unmanned drones with jet engine. They could literally deploy these drones in a matter of minutes and disappear into the sea and simply never engage directly. Wouldnt need a huge fleet like carriers since they can just hide underwater and get out before things heat up
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History Channel needs to watch these and remember what they're about
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Yamamoto studied at Harvard University, was a naval attaché in the US, had once attended the US Navy War College, and spoke fluent English. He knew what stupidity Japan was getting itself into by picking a fight with the Americans, and he thought it was idiotic, but he was a sailor who did what he was told and tried his best to make it work despite his leaders' poor decisions. It's a shame he didn't survive the war; interviews and writings from him would've been fascinating.
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"War is not often kind to the side with fewer weapons." - Tex Talks Battletech
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I had no idea something like this ever existed. They seemed really cool honestly!
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I really wish one of these were preserved, truly one of a kind
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0:55 that shot is so beautiful I want it as a background
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I believe this may have been the inspiration for the anime Space Blue Noah, rebranded as "Thundersub" outside of Japan. It was a submarine that had a "carrier" mode. Of course with the freedom of animation, that sub was much bigger, and it could deploy fighter craft from "runways" made by its top half splitting down the middle.
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The boat ride getting called off when Japan surrendered must have been a relief for that crew. Would make a great movie or documentary. The Last Tour-I Should Be Dead 😂
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Mustard pulling out top quality content as always.
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Everybody gangsta till the water starts launching planes
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The illustrations and animations on Mustard just keep getting better and better. Nice job!
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So this was the inspiration for the Alicorn-Class submersible aviation cruiser
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imagine just vibeing on a beach then seeing a bunch of planes launch out of the water
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What’s next? Flying submarines?
Japan: heheh -
Plot: Hydra bought one of those to develop their flying air carrier.
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If you like this video, you should look up the Japanese I-25 submarine aircraft carrier, which carried a single plane that completed the only "successful" aerial bombing of the Lower 48 (I put "successful" in quotes because while they did drop a couple bombs in southwest Oregon, the fires were put out pretty quickly without much damage).
