Torpedoes - Pearl Harbor, Oahu, HI
Posted by: 
denben
N 21° 22.138 W 157° 56.312
4Q E 610048 N 2363354
Many torpedoes are on display at the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum in Pearl Harbor, Oahu.
Waymark Code: WMRCJ7
Location: Hawaii, United States
Date Posted: 06/08/2016
Views: 3
A suicide torpedo, the Japanese Kaiten is one of many torpedoes on the grounds of the Bowfin Park.
Kaiten was a modified Imperial Japanese Navy Long Lance Torpedo that was improved to be a human guided torpedo approximately 54 feet long and over 18 tons with a 3000 pound warhead.
The plaque reads:
"Kaiten - WWII Japanese Suicide Torpedo
The name "Kaiten" means "to make reverse in the course of events". The Japanese hoped that this new secret weapon would have just such an effect on the course of the Pacific War in 1944.
Kaiten was basically an enlarged torpedo with a small cockpit, a periscope, and manual controls for steering, speed and depth. It had a pure oxygen-fed, kerosene burning 550 horsepower engine and huge 3,000 - pound explosive warhead, which could be detonated on impact or by an electrical switch controlled by the pilot. At top speed, Kaiten would travel 75 feet in just under one second.
Kaiten were transported by submarine to "firing position" (3.5 to 4.5 miles from the target). A telephone line leading into each Kaiten allowed the submarine's captain to provide last minute, pre-launch instructions regarding course, depth and speed to help guide each Kaiten pilot to his target. As the securing cables were released, the telephone line would disconnect, leaving the pilot on his own to start his torpido's engine and guide it on a collision course with the target.
The upper hatch of Kaiten was intended to be used as an escape device when the pilot was within 150 yards of the target. It is believed to have never been used as such. In all, 96 Kaiten pilots died (16 in training).
The only Kaiten known to have sunk a U.S. Navy ship was piloted by LTJG Sekio Nishina, who hit the fleet oiler USS Mississinewa (AO-59) at Ulithi on 20 November 1944. In his craft he carried the ashes of his friend, Lt. Hiroshi Kuroki, who had been killed during Kaiten training. Nishina and Kuroki were the two junior officers who invented Kaiten.
One merchant ship, SS Canada Victory, is believed to have been sunk by Kaiten. One other ship, USS Underhill (DE-682), was scuttled after being severely damaged by Kaiten."
Visit Instructions:
Please provide another photo of the location. You don't have to be in there shot, but you can. The photo requirement is to discourage any armchair visiting.