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TRANSPACIFIC VOYAGE OF THE
I-400
After she was taken over from
the Japanese on her way home from patrol you can imagine that the I-400
required a massive clean-up from stem to stern. The field day
started with all hands moving aboard the U.S.S. Proteus, after
which cylinders of fumigating gas were opened in every compartment and
the boat sealed. Next morning bushel after bushel of dead rats
and cockroaches were swept up. I'd noted with some revulsion on
the Ha-boats the occasional rat leaping through a hatch from
compartment to compartment, and hordes of scurrying roaches when a
light was switched on, but I'd no idea that these boats carried so many
verminous shipmates on patrol. If the I-400 had been rigged for
dive when the rats and roaches were thrown overboard the Diving Officer
would have had to order: Flood two hundred pounds to Auxiliary Tank
from sea.
My friend Admiral
Joe Vasey, who was "Junior" McCain's (i.e. Senator John
McCain's father) Exec on the U.S.S. Gunnel, sent me this
description of the condition of the I-400 when the U.S. Navy took
over.
| While you were at Sasebo I was in Yokosuka with the
Proteus group. When the I-400 entered Yokosuka I was detailed,
along with a few marines, to accompany the squadron doctor for a
medical inspection of the boat. This was quite an experience - as
you so eloquently described in your report. The sub was
incredibly filthy, with a layer of grease and left-over food on the
decks and rats running freely in every compartment. The stench
was almost unbearable, particularly near the heads where one of our
party lost his breakfast as he was hovering over the sanitary tank
opening.
Despite the unhygienic conditions we witnessed, the
physical appearance of the crew was remarkably good. Everyone
seemed to be lean and alert. I think that in the closing weeks of
the war, the Japanese submarine crews realized the collapse of the
Empire was imminent and morale dropped sharply. Incidentally,
when we questioned the ship's officers as to the total complement, the
reply was 187. By our count it was 213, I believe.
The next morning, the crew was ordered on deck and
the fumigation commenced. If my memory is correct it was
conducted under Joe McDowell's supervision and resulted in about a
dozen gunny sacks full of dead rats.
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Sailing across the Pacific to
Pearl Harbor (or through space to the moon) requires a sound plan for
fitting out, manning and supplying your ship. The I-400
had no blueprints or Machinery History describing her equipment, no
crew's Watch, Quarter & Station Bill, and no Standard Allowance
Lists of tools, spares and supplies. It was clear that we'd have
to improvise, so we were given wide latitude by the powers that be in
readying and supplying our unusual boat for her transpacific
voyage. The Euryale's workshops and stores were put at
our disposal, and we were authorized to salvage any Japanese spare
parts and supplies we needed from the warehouses and caves I'd explored
around the Sasebo Navy Yard.
Experienced submariners can
imagine the results of opening a trove of untended Japanese stores to
the crew of a homeward bound submarine equipped with a cavernous hangar
and 12 ton crane. Yes, the I-400 quickly became history's
first Undersea Interisland Trader. Overnight our hangar became an
armory suitable for a major gun running operation, with stacks of
rifles and bayonets from a relatively dry cave I'd spotted. From
Japanese uniform buttons and rating badges to rubber stamps and a
sampan, down our capacious hatches they went to stock our Submarine War
Surplus Store.
The prize crew which had brought
the I-400 from Yokosuka had maintained her well, and it didn't
take long to put her in shipshape seagoing condition, with vital
machinery inspected, overhauled and tested by a responsible crew
member. Since we had no plans to dive the boat before a complete
overhaul at Pearl Harbor we didn't worry about her malfunctioning
snorkel, stiff diving gear or minor defects like leaky hatch gaskets or
an inoperative automatic trim system. To conserve the Euryale's
supplies we loaded provisions for only 14 days to carry us through the
first leg of our passage to Guam, where we'd reprovision for the rest
of the voyage to Hawaii. By the end of November we were able to
report the I-400 "in all respects ready for sea."
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