Japanese submarine I-52 (1943)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Japan
|
|
| Name: | I-52, code-named Momi (樅, Japanese for "evergreen" or "fir tree") |
| Builder: | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
| Laid down: | 18 March 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 28 December 1943 |
| Struck: | 10 December 1944 |
| Fate: | Sunk on 24 June 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | cargo submarine |
| Displacement: | 2,095 metric tons standard, 2,564 t surface, 3,644 t submerged |
| Length: | 108.5 m (356 ft) |
| Beam: | 9.3 m (31 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.12 m (17 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2-shaft diesel and electric motor, 4,700 bhp (3,500 kW) surface, 1,200 shp (890 kW) submerged |
| Speed: | 17.7 knots (33 km/h) surface, 6.5 knots (12 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 21,000 nautical miles (39,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Test depth: | 100 m (328 ft) |
| Complement: | 94 officers and men, 18 civilians |
| Armament: | 6 x 53 cm torpedo tubes, 2 x 14 cm/40 11th Year Type naval guns, 2 x Type 96 25 mm (0.98 in) anti-aircraft guns |
| Notes: | Cargo: 300 metric tons |
I-52 (伊号第五二潜水艦 (伊52) I Gō Dai Gojūni Sensuikan (I Gojūni), I-52 submarine (I-52)), code-named Momi (樅, "fir tree") was a cargo submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy used during World War II for a secret mission to Lorient, France, then occupied by Germany, during which she was sunk.
She is also known as Japan's "Golden Submarine", because she was carrying a cargo of gold to Germany as payment for matériel and technology. There has been speculation that a peace proposal to the Allies was contained on board the I-52 as well, but this is unlikely on two counts: there is no evidence that the Japanese government was interested in peace proposals or negotiated settlements at that stage in the war; and the Japanese kept an open dialogue with their diplomatic attachés via radio and diplomatic voucher through Russia, and had no need for long and uncertain transfer via a submarine bound for a Nazi-controlled area of western Europe.
It is believed that 800 kg (1,760-lbs) of uranium oxide awaited I-52 for her return voyage at Lorient according to Ultra decrypts. It has been speculated that this was for the Japanese to develop a radiological weapon (a so-called "dirty bomb") for use against the United States. (The amount of unenriched uranium oxide would not have been enough to create an atomic bomb, though if used in a nuclear reactor it could have created poisonous fission products).
She was also to be fitted with a snorkel device at Lorient. In addition, 35 to 40 tons of secret documents, drawings, and strategic cargo awaited I-52's return trip to Japan: T-5 acoustic torpedoes, a Jumo 213-A motor used on the long-nosed Focke-Wulf Fw-190D fighter, radar equipment, vacuum tubes, ball bearings, bombsights, chemicals, alloy steel, and optical glass.
...
Wikipedia