1945

This necessitated a delay while he sailed to the hidden supply facility and had the four human-piloted torpedoes attached to the deck of the I-58. His sub could have carried six of the strange things, but the specially adapted torpedoes were in short supply. There were more than enough human volunteers to ride them to their doom, but the American raids had severely affected Japan's ability to manufacture the weapons.

Along with torpedoes, Hashimoto thought ruefully, everything else was in short supply. When he asked for supplies, all he received was a litany of unavailable items, including fuel. He was able to top off his tanks, but a harried supply officer informed him that there were no more fuel reserves. So, this would likely be his last cruise. If that proved to be the case, he could end his part in this dreadful war and return home with honor satisfied.

What really dashed his hope for a rearward assault was even more significant than the delays required for the installation of the kaiten. The utter vastness of the American fleet precluded any attempt to flank it. His executive officer had bitterly surmised that it would be necessary to sail to Australia to find the American flank. As with many a bitter jest, it held a nugget of truth. The numbers of enemy warships off the coast of Kyushu defied counting. There were more American battleships and carriers off Kyushu than the Japanese navy had ever dreamed of having in their fleet, and they were accompanied by vast hordes of smaller cruisers and destroyers. Truly, the American ability to manufacture weapons had tragically been underestimated by the Japanese government. Even though he would fight bravely, Hashimoto knew that his efforts, even if successful beyond his dreams, would be meaningless when compared with the size of the American fleet.

He hoped that his fellow submariners would have the same type of success that he planned on for the I-58. Cumulatively, perhaps they could affect the outcome of the war. Hashimoto had no delusions regarding the ultimate end to the conflict: Japan was doomed to lose. All he could do was what he'd been ordered to, and that was to help cause so much damage to the Americans that they would negotiate a better peace for Japan. It seemed foolish to him. An earlier peace might have found the Americans in a more forgiving mood. Now they would truly be vindictive.

The I-58 approached the American armada frontally, but submerged and with great stealth. Although Hashimoto's main concern was detection by American sonar, he felt that he still had some advantages. For one thing, the sheer volume of shipping made for inconsistent and cluttered sonar readings as hundreds of ships' screws churned the water and, he hoped, sent confusing information to the sonar operators.

Sonar was a devilish weapon. Ultrasonic waves were radiated out by the sending ship and, when they bounced off an object in the water, announced to the world that a submarine might be calling. At first it was thought that sonar would spell the end of submarine warfare. It had not. Sonar, like radar, was a good but imperfect weapon, with many ways it could be fooled by a cunning submariner, and Hashimoto counted on these imperfections to help him.

The volcanic continental shelf that surrounded Japan extended well out into the Pacific and was as hilly and rugged as the islands it surrounded. This meant that the I-58 could skulk about on the ocean bottom and hide among the irregularities in the ocean floor when her captain felt she might be threatened by surface enemies. A submarine lying inert on the bottom was invisible to sonar.

Periodically, however, the I-58 had come to periscope depth to refresh her air through the snorkel, and to see whether she had made it past the defending American warships through the simple expedient of having them wash over the I-58 as they closed in on Kyushu.

But this had not yet happened. Each time the I-58's periscope had poked above the waves, Hashimoto had seen long rows of destroyers and other antisubmarine craft several miles in the distance. This portion of the American fleet showed no indication that it would be closing on Kyushu anytime soon, and any attempt to penetrate the lines of destroyers would be suicidal.

Commander Hashimoto had no doubts that he would probably soon die for Japan, but he wanted his sacrifice to be worthwhile. He had four of the precious kaiten and twenty-four standard Type 95 torpedoes ready to be fired. His orders had been specific- he was to only attack carriers and transports. Other ships were to be left alone.