HONOLULU, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Two Japanese submarines spirited away following World War II and scuttled off the coast of Hawaii have been located, a former U.S. Navy commander says.
Retired Navy Cmdr. Allen Burdett "Buck" Catlin said the submarines, found in 3,000-foot-deep waters off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, were among five advanced subs relocated from Japan by U.S. submariners on orders from their superiors, The Honolulu Advertiser reported Friday.
Among the relocated subs were three "Sen-Toku" class Japanese submarines and two Japanese fast attack submarines. The 400-foot "Sen-Toku" subs were capable of holding enough fuel to travel 1 1/2 times around the world.
Catlin said the subs were commandeered by U.S. forces in 1946 and eventually scuttled to prevent Russian scientists from getting their hands on them.
"The Russians were coming so we sneaked them out. It was not particularly difficult, except we couldn't read the name plates on the instruments," he told the Advertiser.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, using revolutionary technology, located one of the Japanese fast attack subs and a I-401 "Sen-Toku" sub.
"It was really propitious to find two of these subs fairly close together," the undersea lab's operations director," Terry Kerby, said.
