After receiving a letter from Paul Wittmer asking former members of the TINOSA who served as prize crew members on the Japanese I-Boats, I have prepared the following article.

As I recall, Paul Wittmer and Don Pierson served on board the 1-401. Clyde Gallardy, Warner Cross and Steve Hovanic served on the I-400. Looking back thirty-six years later and trying to recall what went on when WW II was winding down; I remember that Paul, Clyde and myself were transferred off the TINOSA after the tenth war patrol, May 16, 1945. In that short period of time we served in the relief crew on board the PROTEUS until one morning while having breakfast, they announced over the P.A. System that America had dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Now what did we know about an atomic bomb? All I remember about it in my high school days was my science teacher telling us that all material substances are composed of minute particles or atoms and that man would never split the atom. And now we hear that we dropped one bomb that completely destroyed an entire city. One bomb, an atomic bomb at that, boy that was pretty hard to believe at that time, at least by some of us.

After the dropping of the bombs, days passed, how many, I don't remember anymore. However I do remember all the activity on board the PROTEUS, loading supplies, etc.... and all the rumors going around as to what we were up to.

Then one day we were assigned to prize crews under a captain and officers and we were told that we would take over any of the Jap subs that might surrender. We left Guam in a convoy bound for Japan. We arrived at Tokyo Bay (near Yokosuka Navy Base) for the formal surrender of the Japanese forces.

The prize crew I was assigned to was to patrol the navy base. We were issued carbines that neither I nor anybody else knew anything about. We were also issued ammunition and told not to load the gun; that was understandable, since none of us knew how to fire the damn things anyway. We were paired up, two men to patrol an area. Here we are, ashore, night time, can't see your hand in front of your face and told to walk around the base. I don't recall if we even had a flashlight. It would have made no difference, we didn't know what the h--- we were doing any way. I believe we were on a four hour watch at that time and we went from building to building that night, scared, not knowing what to expect. We were told to be back in four hours so we could be relieved. The next day, during daylight, we could see what the place was all about.

We went into all of the buildings, explored all the caves, shops and warehouses. We were looking around to see what we could find. I think by this time we forgot all about our patrol duties. There was absolutely no organization whatsoever as to what we were supposed to be doing. Can you picture an American Navy Base completely abandoned, absolutely nobody there, not even guards or workmen? The only people in sight were outside the gatehouse - they were Japanese police, armed with guns and swords. We made no attempt to relieve them of these arms, however one of our party had a camera and took pictures of us along with the Japanese policemen. They're more than willing to pose for photos. I was promised a copy of the pictures but somehow I never received them. I don't recall how long we patrolled the base, however I do remember all the souvenirs I was able to obtain for myself and friends back on board the PROTEUS.

When we explored the inside of the shops and caves it was just as if the workers had left for the day and would return tomorrow. The base was ringed with caves in the mountains, some of them were as large as airplane hangars, all were carved out of the rock. There were machine and metal shops for the construction and repair of ships. In the warehouses and caves we found torpedoes, bombs and ammunition. In the building housing the optical shop wefound such things as binoculars, sextants, chronometers, watches, etc. We had a field day liberating this gear. Later on, this material, or loot if you will, was inspected and tagged. A record was made in our name and we were allowed to keep most items and take it home.

As the occupation went on, men were being sent home and discharged from the Navy (including members of the prize crews assigned to the I-Boats that had surrendered at the end of the war, I-400, I-401, and I-14). They needed replacements for these people and since I had a two year enlistment and the duration of the war, I had enough points to get out myself, but I was not quite ready for this yet. I found out that you could extend your enlistment by six months which I did, so I could remain with one of the I-Boats. As it turned out it was the 1-401 under the command of Commander Ed. Spruance, the Admiral's son.

Now for a little information about these mammoth submarines. There were three large boats that were over 400 feet long and displaced over 5,700 tons. They were the I-400, I-401, and the I-402. To my knowledge the I-402 never went to sea - it was tied up to a dock with a skeleton crew on board. I remember some of us from the I-401 going over to her looking for spare parts for our boat. She did not appear to have been completed. There were two smaller versions of these boats which displaced 3,700 tons. The only one I saw was the I-14. The larger boats carried three seaplanes and one knocked down aircraft. The float and wings for this craft were stored in water tight compartments under the deck area and the fuselage was stored in the overhead of the hangar area. The I-14 carried two planes. These planes were designed as scouts to aid the eyesight of the fleet. We were also told they had considered using them to bomb New York City and the Panama Canal, but they never got that far. The boats were commissioned just before the end of the war. They had a cruising range of 50,000 miles and they were being used to carry food and arms to Japanese isolated bases.

These submarines were somewhat radical in design and construction. Picture two hulls put together side by side (required for stability in launching and retrieving aircraft) then blending at each end into a single hull. The forward room had two sections, one over the other. Upper and lower torpedo rooms, four tubes in each. At the stern there was also a blending into a single hull, but without torpedoes. On top of all this was a long cylindrical hull with a large watertight door on deck which served as the hangar was the catapult for launching the planes extending to the bow. A large crane which returned the aircraft to the deck was raised and lowered hydraulically into the deck area when not being used. The conning tower structure was offset to the port side somewhat in the manner of the island on an aircraft carrier. From the bridge through the conning tower to the deck level in the control room was a straight drop of about forty feet. To expedite passage down this distance there was a ladder with smooth handrails. The handrails were supported by offsets so that one could use the rails somewhat like a fireman's pole. There was a thick mat at the bottom of the ladder to prevent one from breaking a leg. With some practice you could zip down by controlling your speed with the insteps of your feet against the rails.

These boats had a schnorkel, somewhat like the German type, but these units traveled up and down similar to a periscope. They supplied air to the two auxiliary engines and exhausted the gas from the diesels when the boat was submerged.

Topside on deck was a large-caliber gun and 10 twenty-five mm machine guns. There was a crude radar system but not of much value.

I was assigned to the auxiliary gang on board the I-401 and believe me our work was cut out for us. It was like going back to sub school all over again, and then qualifying on board the I-Boats, only it was much harder. It involved tracing out all of the systems - air, water, hydraulic, refrigeration, air compressors, etc. and making many sketches. It was quite complicated because everything was in Japanese. We had an interpreter who tried his best to translate the writing on the equipment; this was not an easy task. In many Navies of the World, equipment and systems are known by different names. But by tracing out all of the systems we were able to do a fairly good job in understanding the equipment and labeling the valves, etc.

During this time we had the help of the Japanese crew with this work and just prior to taking these boats out for trial runs we let about 60% of the crew go home. The balance of the crew, we kept to show us how to operate the boats. We would go out to sea and do just about everything short of diving them. This, we never attempted to do. We had our hands full just operating on the surface. The Jap crew was very easy to get along with, they tried very hard to train us in the operation of the boats. We had no problems with these people as far as I remember. We told them once we learned how to operate the boats they all could go home. After the Jap crews finally left we continued to take the boats out by ourselves until we became proficient in operation.

I believe it was the end of October when we set sail from Yokosuka to Sasebo Naval Base in southern Japan where we tied up alongside the submarine tender EURYALE. We stayed at Sasebo for quite some time. I remember that we celebrated Christmas in Guam. From Guam we stopped at Eniwetok and then on to Pearl where we were the objects of great curiosity. There were hundreds of Army and Navy men along with their friends as well as newspaper reporters to look us over.

Some time later at the end of January, I was told I was to be sent home. I tried once more to extend my enlistment for another six months but the problem was that we were not a commissioned boat in the US Navy and our Captain had no authority to extend my enlistment. The reason I wanted to stay on, was because when we were in Japan we were told, more or less that we would bring these boats back to the States for one more war bond drive; sailing them up and down the East and West coasts. This was not to be, although I was ready for it.

After serving in the best branch of the Navy for 41 months, I was able to look back from the day I enlisted to the day I was discharged and feel very very lucky to get home safe and alive; especially remembering those mine locating patrols. I think going to Japan and being a crew member on the I-401 was a nice way to finish out my Navy career.   Lucky me, thank God.