(NOTE: YOYA lets us know that the pre-War part of the history will consist mostly of technical data of old boats and will be pretty dry, but he promises it will get more and more interesting as we get further into this history.)

In 1905, the small, backward and impoverished Japan was locked in death struggle with the colossal Imperial Russia. The Imperial Japanese Navy, far outclassed in fleet strength by its adversary, decided to bridge the great gap by acquiring a new weapon, namely the submarine. It was just four years after the U.S. Navy commissioned its first submarine, USS HOLLAND. The first step I.J.N. took towards this end was to purchase five HOLLAND type boats from Electric Boat Company. Those five boats were, one by one, carried to Japan by freighters in disassembled states, and were reassembled at the Yokosuka Naval Yard. They were commissioned in I.J.N. as Boat #1 through #5.

In parallel with the above development, in 1904 Kawasaki Dockyard Company, at the behest of I.J.N., bought blueprints of an improved-type boat privately from Mr. John P. Holland, who had by then severed his relationship with Electric Boat Company. Kawasaki invited two American engineers who had been assistants to Mr. Holland - Messers Chase & Herbert - together with a few other technicians, and built, with their assistance, two modified HOLLAND-type boats based on the purchased blueprints. After much hard work, those two boats were completed in 1906 and were commissioned in I.J.N. as Boat #6 and #7. These two different types of HOLLAND boats are compared in the following table.

SPECS	HOLLAND	MODIFIED HOLLAND (Boat #6)
Displacement	103/124 tons	57/63 tons
Length	24.42 meters	23.5 meters
Beam	3.63 meters	2.13 meters
Draft	3.12 meters	2.04 meters
Engine	180hp gasoline	250hp gasoline
Electric motor	70hp	22hp
Fuel	2 tons	1.4 tons
Range (surf)	264 miles at 8 knots	184 miles at 8 knots
Range (subm)	20 miles at 6.8 knots	12 miles at 4 knots
Single tube	45cm (fwd)	45cm (fwd)
Torpedoes	2	1
Depth of dive	46 meters	30.5 meters
Crew	16	16

(Specifications of Boat #6 & #7 were not quite the same. It appears the modified version was designed with the reduction of cost in mind; its smaller size also made it easier to transport it aboard a tender to the area of operation.) Those submarines came too late in the war, and could not take part in combat, but the Russians knew of the Japanese plan to acquire submarines whose capability was considerably overrated in those days, and it exerted certain psychological pressure upon them.

On 13 April, 1904 the Flagship of the Russian Pacific Fleet, the battleship PETROPAVLOVSK, hit a Japanese mine and sank, killing C in C Admiral Makarov; some Russians wrongly suspected that it was the work of a Japanese submarine.

After the victory on 23 October, 1905 the Japanese Fleet held a victory parade in Tokyo Bay, and it was on this occasion that the submarines came to the public eye for the first time.

Subsequently, the first submarine squadron was formed at Kure Naval Base in the Inland Sea, and in 1909 the first submarine tender TOYORASI was assigned. However, contrary to the great expectations of the Japanese naval authorities, those HOLLAND boats displayed extremely poor sea-keeping qualities, and it was impossible to operate, them in the open ocean. They could by no means prove themselves to be the revolutionary new weapon - at least not yet - that would change the concept of sea warfare. But now submarines were there to stay in I.J.N. and through various experiments using those HOLLAND boats, experiences were gradually accumulated and a basis for future development was formed.

Of the initial seven HOLLAND boats, Boat #6 is specially remembered for the tragic accident it suffered. On 15 April, 19 10, the boat was engaged in an experiment; it was trying to utilize the technique known later as 'SNORKELLING'. It ran submerged with its gasoline engine, sucking air through the extended air induction tube. Then the tube inadvertently dipped under the waves, and alas, the chain that would have closed the air induction valve broke in the middle. Tons of water poured into the boat and it sank to the bottom. All the attempts to surface the boat failed. Realizing that his fate was sealed, C.O. of the boat, 31 year old Lieutenant (SG) Tsutomu Sakuma began scribbling his last message on a notepad with the faint light coming through the conning tower porthole. Apart from technical observations, he apologized for sinking his boat through carelessness and bringing death to his crew, praised them for performing their duties immaculately to the last moment, and begged that the bereaved families of his crew should not be made to go hungry.

When the boat was located and raised on the following day, it was found that the order had been maintained to the very last minute, and every crewman died serenely at his post. The brave behavior and self- sacrifice of the crew of Boat #6 deeply moved the entire nation. LT Sakuma's message was displayed at the pre-war Naval Academy's museum at Etaj ima, and Boat #6, after retirement, was placed in the yard of the Submarine School at Kure as a memorial. The story of the brave deed of the crew of Boat #6 was written in the text books of primary school children. 6-GOTEI DAMASHII (Spirit of Boat #6 Crew) became the motto of the Japanese Submarine Service. It was with this tradition that the Japanese submariners were to live and fight under the most severe and trying conditions and face death always serenely and unflinchingly.

(This is all new history for our KTB Magazine, and we thank Yoya for writing this for us. There will be more of the history of the I.J.N. submarines in KTB #105 next month. John Holland was the Father of I.J.N. Submarines too? We ARE learning a lot.)

More History of the Japanese Submarine Navy

Part 1: 1905
Part 2: 1912-17
Part 3: C-1 and C-2
Part 4: Ha-9, Ha-10 and Tsing-Tao
Part 5: Ro-11, Ro-13, Ro-16
Part 6: Ro-1, Ro-3
Part 7: Kaichu Type 4
Part 8: Batteries
Part 9: Ro-57 and Ro-60
Part 10: I-16
Part 11: O-1 (ex U-125) and O-2 (ex U-46)