Detail of the Class of which I.J.N. I-12 belonged

On 30 October, 1944 the I.J.N. submarine I-12 under K.K. Kaneo Kudo claimed the sinking of two American transports, which was also confirmed by Japanese radio intelligence. In fact, only one was sunk, but her lifeboats and survivors were machine-gunned in the water.

CAPTAIN PETER CHELEMEDOS (3619-1994) is a survivor of that action, and he wrote this to us some time ago:

"My ship SS JOHN A. JOHNSON was sunk halfway between San Francisco and Honolulu October 30, 1944 by the Japanese I-12 (Kudo). On that occasion ten of my crew were killed and seven wounded by machine gun fire. Fortunately, the sub had shelled the two halves of the ship which were still afloat and the ensuing fire set off the 1,000 tons of ammunition stowed in Number 2 'Tween deck. The resultant explosion was sighted by a commercial plane flying between 'Frisco and Honolulu, and when the plane came back and circled, the submarine left. We were picked up by a Navy weather ship the next day and returned to San Francisco."

This is written in the book by CAPTAIN CHELEMEDOS called "PETER, THE ODYSSEY OF A MERCHANT MARINER" (this book will soon be available through SHARKHUNTERS)

Some time after 5 January, 1945 I-12 (Kudo) disappeared without a trace and with no record of what caused the loss, presumably with all hands. Any updates are welcome.