Japanese submarine I-16

On 31 July 1941, I-16 was assigned a new commanding officer by the name of LtCdr Yamada Kaoru who had previously been the Co of I-56. I-16 would see her first use in the Attack on Pearl Harbor for which she was enrolled in the Advance Expeditionary Fleet (Sixth Fleet) on 15 November 1941 and two days later assigned to Captain Sasaki Hankyu's Special Attack Unit with I-18, -20, -24 and the flagship, I-22. The Special Attack Unit sails from Kure to the Kamegakubi Naval Proving Ground on 18 November 1941 to each be fitted with a then top-secret two-man Type A Midget submarine.[5]

The unit departs Japan at 2.15am on 19 November 1941 for the Hawaiian Islands, passing South of Midway on route. On 7 December 1941 they reach Hawaii and I-16 lies about seven miles South-West of the entrance of Pearl Harbor. At 0.42 am, I-16 launches its Midget Submarine which joins the four others released from the Special Attack Unit before patrolling West of Lanai, Hawaii. The subsequent air attack on Pearl Harbor turned out to be a success, however none of the midget submarines made it back to their mother ships. I-16 ultimately departs her patrol area for Kwajalein on 12 December where she arrives on 20 December in company of I-20. Not long after I-16 was recalled to Japan for further tests for the submarines capabilities.[5]

In 1942, I-16 is assigned to A Detachment along with I-10, I-18, I-20, I-30 and their support ships the auxiliary cruisers/supply ships Aikoku Maru and Hokoku Maru. The detachment departs Japan on 30 April 1942 albeit without I-30 for the East African coast for possible attacks under the command of the flagship I-10. During this voyage I-16 sank four ships before returning to Japan on 26 August 1942.[5]

I-16's commanding officer is replaced with former CO of I-6 LtCdr Nakamura Shozo on 18 December 1942. I-16 would find herself part of another major operation by the name of KE-Go which consisted of the evacuation of Japanese forces from Guadacanal which lasted from 31 January 1943 to 9 February. Her role in this was to patrol the South-East of Gaudacanal along with I-11, I-25 and I-32. A total of 11,700 troops were successfully evacuated from the island.[5]

The first incident of I-16 commenced on 2 April 1943 when she collided with I-20 underwater and had to return to Yokosuka for repairs which lasted until 21 September. After returning to service I-16 completed seven supply runs to New Guinea between 17 October 1943 and 15 December 1943 before being slightly damaged in an air raid on Christmas Day at Rabaul. She returns to Yokosuka and is drydocked on 1 January 1944. The repairs lasted until early February and The commanding Officer was again replaced on 15 February with LtCdr Takeuchi Yoshitaka, the former CO of I-158.[5]

I-16 was based at Truk, Micronesia in April 1944. It is from here that she departed on 14 May 1944 at 8 am on a supply mission to Buin, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea while carrying rice in 75-lb rubber bags.[5]

Five days into the supply run to Buin, I-16 was spotted by an American patrol plane 140 miles North-East of Cape Alexander, Solomons. At 13.35 pm I-16 was spotted by the sonar of USS England. USS England attacked I-16 at 13.41 pm with the first of five depth charge barrages. At 14.35 pm during the last attack, I-16 was fatally hit and exploded. The underwater explosion was powerful enough to lift USS England's fantail out of the water by 6 inches. The sinking was confirmed when debris started surfacing 20 minutes after the explosion. I-16 was lost with all 107 crew and was presumed sunk on 25 June 1944 before being removed from the Navy list on 10 October 1944.[1]

I-16 ended up sinking four ships during her career with the loss of 14 lives.[5]

Date	Name	Nationality	Tonnage[Note 1]	Fate
6 June 1942	Susak	Yugoslavia	3,889	Sunk
8 June 1942	Aghios Georgios IV	Greece	4,847	Sunk
12 June 1942	Supetar	Yugoslavia	3,748	Sunk
1 July 1942	Eknaren	Sweden	5,243	Sunk

Her wreck still lies at 05°10′S 158°10′E and is considered a war grave.[1]