Japanese Peacetime Submarine Accidents

Japan was one of the first countries to experiment with submarines. Senior officers from her navy traveled to Groton, CT in July 1897 to inspected the Holland VI shortly after her launching and years before she would be commissioned as U.S.S. Holland, and given the designation SS-1. A japanese naval officer rode in the submerged Holland VI in October, 1897. Their Naval Attaché, Lt. Kenji Ide, attended the public demonstrations of Holland VI in Washington, DC in March 1900, shortly before her purchase by the U.S. Navy. They purchased Simon Lake's Protector in 1903 (renamed the Oestr), the Fulton from Electric Boat in 1904, followed by an additional five submarines from both Simon Lake and Electric Boat.

April, 1910 - Submarine No.6 foundered in 60 feet of water. She had been running submerged, using her gasoline engine and a early schnorkel. The float valve failed to properly close the top of the schnorkel when waves washed over it, and water entered No. 6. The entire crew survived the initial foundering, but were beyond hope of rescue. The Commanding Officer, Lt. Sakuma, maintained the ship's log for three hours after the sinking, until he, and the entire crew, finally succumbed. Lt. Sakuma wrote that he did not want the accident to be held against Japan's adoption of submarines. He would write "...it is with pride that I inform you that the crew to a man have discharged their duties as sailors should with the utmost coolness until their dying moments."

Return to Foreign Submarine Accidents.

This page last updated on 8 February, 1999.