by Tom Dougherty » Wed Jan 27, 2021 11:26 am
I pulled out my copy of Schratz�s book. He did briefly inspect the I-402, and found it in deplorable condition. It had rotted rice stored in the engine room that had been soaked by fuel oil, due to lack of gaskets in the engines. Rats were everywhere. The sub had only one crude head and no shower facilities. When cleaning out the I-400 in preparation for the trip to Pearl, the sailors removed 12 gunny sacs of rats from the sub.
Schratz was assigned as the captain of the Japanese I-203, one of the high speed Japanese designs, which he brought to Pearl Harbor. This was the Japanese equivalent of the German Type XXI submarine. He describes it as having an underwater speed of 19 kts., and 4,192 automobile size batteries. On the plus side, it has a German Balkon sonar, an early type of curved array with multiple transducers, and a very good German made radio. On the minus side, it had poor HOR type diesels and terrible radar. He says that some of the original parts, spare parts, and blueprints were missing.
The big I-400 boats made a separate crossing to Pearl a few weeks earlier than the high speed I-200 series submarines. All were tested and then sunk, mainly to keep them out of the hands of Russia.
I pulled out my copy of Schratz�s book. He did briefly inspect the I-402, and found it in deplorable condition. It had rotted rice stored in the engine room that had been soaked by fuel oil, due to lack of gaskets in the engines. Rats were everywhere. The sub had only one crude head and no shower facilities. When cleaning out the I-400 in preparation for the trip to Pearl, the sailors removed 12 gunny sacs of rats from the sub.
Schratz was assigned as the captain of the Japanese I-203, one of the high speed Japanese designs, which he brought to Pearl Harbor. This was the Japanese equivalent of the German Type XXI submarine. He describes it as having an underwater speed of 19 kts., and 4,192 automobile size batteries. On the plus side, it has a German Balkon sonar, an early type of curved array with multiple transducers, and a very good German made radio. On the minus side, it had poor HOR type diesels and terrible radar. He says that some of the original parts, spare parts, and blueprints were missing.
The big I-400 boats made a separate crossing to Pearl a few weeks earlier than the high speed I-200 series submarines. All were tested and then sunk, mainly to keep them out of the hands of Russia.