Airfield Under The Sea

17th

Airfield Under The Sea

April 2009

I wasn’t aware of Japanese I-400 boats until I received an email a couple days ago with this article, which is available from numerous sources online. I found it coincidental to have read about this not long after Galrahn’s Risk Averse Political Policy Requires High End Focus led to a good bit of discussion on defending submarines from air threats.

Airfield Under The Sea is an interesting read for anyone (like me) who did not know the Japanese had actually put submarines to sea carrying aircraft.

Most of the photos and graphics are self-explanatory, but I wish there was a caption giving the date and location of the photograph of a surviving M6A1 Seiron on page 2.

Posted by Fouled Anchor in Aviation, Navy
Tags: aircraft carriers, I-400, submarines, World War II history
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12 Responses to “Airfield Under The Sea”

Mark Carlisle Says:
The Seiran is now at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles airport:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Japan—Navy/Aichi-M6A1-Seiran/1512985/M/
April 17th, 2009 at 8:57 am
AC Says:
The Japanese caption on the image accompanying this blog article reads “saigo no maku,” literally, “the final curtain” or “the final act.”

Per the previous comment, the Smithsonian website has a page that describes the Seiran in its National Air & Space Museum collection. The URL is:

http://collections.nasm.si.edu/code/emuseum.asp?profile=objects&newstyle=single&quicksearch=A19630308000

Thanks.
April 17th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Chuck Hill Says:
Prior to WWII the French also built an aircraft carrying sub that also had two 8″ guns.
April 17th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Robert Johnson Says:
French submarine: Surcouf
April 17th, 2009 at 11:52 am
D. E. Reddick Says:
Another book also provides brief coverage of these incredible boats.

“Hybrid Warships: The Amalgamation of Big Guns and Aircraft” by R D Layman and Stephen McLaughlin. Chapter 17 is entitled “Sub Aquae Ad Astra” and provides some line drawings and a photo along with discussion of the development of these boats. It is quite a novel book, given its topic. I’ve considered it to be quite an entertaining and informative work ever since I first received it.

Also, Wikipedia has some coverage:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surcouf_(N_N_3)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-400_class_submarine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_aircraft_carrier

D. E. Reddick
April 17th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Eagle1 Says:
See http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/003154.html for a really large modern version
April 17th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
D. E. Reddick Says:
Eagle1,

The figure shown at the top of that Murdoc Online webpage is exactly the same image as found on page 181 of Chapter 17 in Layman and McLaughlin’s 1991 book on hybrid warships. The labeling is slightly different. And that’s not too surprising, given the 28 years that passed between its original appearance in a 1963 publication and its more recent appearance in Layman and McLaughlin’s book of 1991.

The original concept and imagery appeared in the October, 1963 issue of the Naval Institute Proceedings. Forty-five year old concept, methinks.

D. E. Reddick
April 17th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Cdr Mark Condeno Says:
Gentlemen,

Please see and check the title and link below regarding this subject:

http://www.amazon.com/Japans-Secret-Aircraft-Carrying-Strike-Submarine/dp/190

http://www.amazon.co.uk/I-400-Japans-Secret-Submarine-Objective/dp/1902109457

Thank you for the article on the Submarine Carriers
April 19th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Paul Withington Says:
As a child in the ’60s I remember a cousin, a consultant to the Navy and well known oceanographer, discussing how Japanese submarine launched aircraft had bombed, harmlessly, the West Coast (in the lingo of Vietnam, a “tree storage site”). If my memory serves me he said either coastal Washington or Oregon.
April 19th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Eagle1 Says:
http://www.eaglespeak.us/2006/09/sunday-ship-history-when-japanese.html
April 19th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Eagle1 Says:
http://www.browsersbookstore.com/bombsoverbrookings.html
April 19th, 2009 at 11:15 am
D. E. Reddick Says:
The Royal Navy tried several different themes in arming submarines. Mines, aircraft, multiple medium guns, and a single really big gun.

Just imagine firing a 12-inch (305 mm) gun from a semi-submerged 1950-ton boat (HM Submarine M1). The picture of a model with a cutaway view of the gun turret makes me think a bit of the main gun turrets for DDG-1000:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_M1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_M_class_submarine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_M2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Submarine_X1

That last one (HM Submarine X1) featured two turrets carrying twin 5.25-inch QF guns. Effectively, she was a submarine light cruiser. Be sure to click on the picture for the full resolution version (and think about turbulence!).
April 19th, 2009 at 2:51 pm