| USS Mississinewa (AO-59) sinking at Ulithi. The capsized ship’s bottom can be seen at the base of the flames, with bow or stern toward the left. USS Mississinewa, a 25,425-ton Cimarron-class oiler, was built at Sparrows Point, Maryland. Commissioned in May 1944, she picked up her 1st cargo at Aruba, Dutch West Indies, in June and steamed to the Pacific. Upon arrival in the Central Pacific, she began providing fuel and supplies to 3rd Fleet ships, continuing to do so during raids on Japanese bases and the campaigns to capture the Palaus and Leyte. At 0547 Hours of November 20, 1944, while at Ulithi anchorage, Caroline Islands, with a full cargo of fuel oil and aviation gasoline, she was hit by a Japanese Kaiten (“return to heaven”) manned suicide torpedo, 1 of 5 launched from the Imperial Japanese Navy submarines I-36 and I-47. Resulting in a massive explosion, USS Mississinewa sank, the 1st victim of this newly introduced Japanese suicide weapon. The sinking of USS Mississinewa was the 1st use of Kaiten in combat. Submarines I-36, I-37, and I-47, acting on a report from a Nakajima C6N1 “Myrt” high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft from Truk, were dispatched to sink carriers, battleships, and cruisers of the 3rd Fleet. At dawn on November 19, I-36 and I-47 approached to within 4 1/2 nautical miles (8 kilometers) of Ulithi, and I-47 reported seeing over 200 American ships in the anchorage inside the reef. At 0030 Hours on November 20, I-47 surfaced so her kaiten pilots could board their craft. At 0300 Hours, the kaiten launched. The 1st to be launched was piloted by Imperial Japanese Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade Sekio Nishina (April 10, 1923 – November 20, 1944), the co-inventor of the Kaiten torpedo. He was carrying the ashes of Hiroshi Kuroki (September 11, 1921 – September 7, 1944), the other co-inventor, who had been killed in a training accident. It is believed that his Kaiten hit the Mississinewa. Another kaiten was rammed by USS Case (DD-370); another ran aground on the reef; and the 4th was sunk by depth charges. I-36 could not launch 3 of her kaiten due to mechanical issues; the 4th was successfully launched and never seen again. Regardless, he was credited with sinking an aircraft carrier. Both submarines returned to Japan on November 24. During the rest of the war, the Japanese conducted 10 major Kaiten operations. The most significant success was sinking the destroyer escort USS Underhill (DE-682) on July 24, 1945, with a loss of 113 of her crew. Besides Underhill and Mississenewa, the only other American ship sunk by a Kaiten was the Infantry Landing Craft LCI-600, with the loss of 3 men. Several other ships were damaged. These losses cost the Japanese 8 Kaiten-carrying submarines and their crews, 106 Kaiten pilots (including 15 killed in training and 2 who committed suicide at the end of the war). A significant number – 156 – of maintenance and support personnel were also lost, presumably mostly on the sunken mother submarines. Kaiten pilots suffered from a high degree of mental illness, as they contemplated their impending deaths. Imperial Japanese Navy Captain Mochitsura Hashimoto, Commanding Officer of Submarine I-58, faced disobedience from his kaiten pilots as he targeted United States Navy Heavy Cruiser Indianapolis (CA-35). They were extremely despondent and demanded to be launched at the cruiser, despite heavy seas. Hashimoto denied the request, knowing it was certain death with no chance of success. The kaiten pilots, who were extremely depressed after weeks of waiting for death, attempted to launch anyway and had to be subdued. Hashimoto sank Indianapolis with regular torpedoes. The Japanese press inflated the success of the kaiten, and thus the program continued, even as the manned torpedoes had critical defects that prevented operations. Leaks in the craft were never resolved and plagued the kaiten throughout the war. Judging the kaiten by the sound of the explosion, the sinking of USS Mississinewa indicated massive damage to the 3rd Fleet. At a staff conference of the Japanese Submarine Force, 6th Fleet, the Japanese reviewed the reconnaissance reports, including I-47’s post-attack periscope report of a massive pall of smoke over Ulithi, and concluded that 3 aircraft carriers and 2 battleships had been sunk, and that the Kaiten mission had been a great success. By mid-1945, only I-47, I-36, and I-58 were capable of delivering kaiten. All the other fleet submarine motherships were sunk or damaged beyond repair. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1635.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.53 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 5753 x 4205 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Navy |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | November 20, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Ulithi Atoll |
| Country | Carolines |
| Archive | Naval History and Heritage Command |
| Record Number | 80-G-270753 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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