SENSUIKAN!

© 2001-2017 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp
Revision 1

28 March 1927:
Laid down at Kure Navy Yard.

5 October 1929:
Launched as I-64.

1 March 1930:
LtCdr (later Rear Admiral) Komazawa Katsumi (42)(former CO of I-52) is appointed the Chief Equipping Officer (CEO).

30 August 1930:
I-64 is completed and commissioned in the IJN. Attached to Sasebo Naval District. LtCdr Komazawa Katsumi is the CO.

1 December 1932:
LtCdr (later Captain) Fujitani Ataka (46)(former CO of RO-58) is appointed the CO.

15 November 1933:
LtCdr (Rear Admiral, posthumously) Otake Toshio (45)(former CO of I-123) is appointed the CO.

21 October 1935-15 February 1936:
LtCdr (promoted Cdr 15 November 1935) Otake is appointed the CO of I-62 as additional duty.

27 January-15 February 1936:
Cdr Otake is appointed the CO of I-61 as additional duty.

15 February 1936:
LtCdr (Rear Admiral, posthumously) Fujii Akiyoshi (49)(former CO of I-121/I-122) is appointed the CO of I-61, I-62 and I-64 as additional duty.

10 March 1936:
LtCdr (later Captain) Hamano Motoichi (47)(former CO of I-65) is appointed the CO.

5 May 1936:
LtCdr Fujii Akiyoshi is appointed the CO (his second tour as the CO of that boat).

15 November 1937:
LtCdr (later Captain) Tonozuka Kinzo (50)(former CO of RO-34) is appointed the CO.

15 December 1937:
LtCdr (promoted Cdr 15 November 1938; Rear Admiral, posthumously) Yamada Takashi (49)(former CO of I-55) is appointed the CO.

10 March 1939:
LtCdr (Captain, posthumously) Hanabusa Hakushi (51)(current CO of I-121) is appointed the CO.

15 November 1939:
LtCdr Hanabusa is appointed the CO of I-62 as additional duty.

20 March 1940:
LtCdr (Captain, posthumously) Ogawa Tsunayoshi (50)(former CO of RO-64) is appointed the CO of I-61, I-62 and I-64 as additional duty.

26 July 1940:
LtCdr (later Cdr) Kono Masamichi (52)(current CO of I-62) is appointed the CO of I-64 as additional duty.

30 October 1940:
LtCdr Ogawa Tsunayoshi is appointed the CO (his second tour as the CO of that boat).

26 November 1941:
I-64 is in Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral), the Marquis, Daigo Tadashige's SubRon 5 in Captain Tamaki Tomejiro's SubDiv 29 with I-62. LtCdr Ogawa Tsunayoshi is the Commanding Officer.

I-64 departs Sasebo for Palau with Admiral Daigo's flagship the light cruiser YURA and SubDivs 29 and 30. En route, SubRon 5 is diverted to Samah, Hainan Island, China.

5 December 1941:
Departs Samah to cover the invasion transports.

8 December 1941: Operation "E" - The Invasion of Malaya:
Japanese forces land on the Kra Isthmus of Thailand and NE Malaya.

South China Sea, off Trengganu, Malaya. I-64 forms a patrol line with I-57, I-58, I-62 and I-66. She receives the easternmost position ("S-4") of the line.

26 December 1941:
Reassigned to Patrol Group "B" with I-65 and I-66, tasked with disrupting British naval communications in the Indian Ocean, W of 106th meridian E. After completing their patrols Patrol Group "B" has to proceed to a new base at Penang, Malaya.

27 December 1941:
Arrives at Camranh Bay, Indochina, in company of I-65 and I-66.

7 January 1942:
Departs Camranh on her second war patrol to raid enemy communications in the Indian Ocean.

22 January 1942:
Indian Ocean, 550 miles W of Sibolga, Sumatra. The 4,482-ton Dutch KPM merchant VAN OVERSTRATEN is en route from Bombay, India to Oosthaven, Sumatra. About 1630 (local) LtCdr Ogawa fires two torpedoes at her; one passes ahead and the other below the keel of the target. At 1630 I-64 battle-surfaces on VAN OVERSTRATEN and opens fire with the deck gun. Slowed down by multiple hits, the steamer stops and lowers the lifeboats. Shortly before sunset LtCdr Ogawa scuttles the ship with a third torpedo. VAN OVERSTRATEN sinks by the bow at 01-40N, 90-13E. Four sailors are killed during the shelling, 103 are rescued by a Dutch Dornier Do-24 flying boat and 10 make landfall at Simeulue Island.

28 January 1942:
Palk Strait, N of Ceylon. At 0547 (GMT), I-64 battle-surfaces on the 391-ton British Inland Water Transport paddle steamer IDAR, independently en route from Madras to Cochin. At 0558, after receiving a shell hit, IDAR's crew leaves the ship at 10-12N, 80-13E. I-64 sends over a boarding party which tries to set IDAR on fire, but the damaged steamer later drifts ashore.

29 January 1942:
Indian Ocean. 15 miles SE of Madras, India. At 1005, I-64 torpedoes the 5,049-ton American passenger-cargo steamer FLORENCE LUCKENBACH (ex-DAMARA), independently en route from Madras to New York via Cape Town with 3,500 tons of general cargo and 3,400 tons of manganese ore. The hit to No. 1 hold blows a great hole in her port side and the steamer goes down by the bow. Ten minutes later Master, Captain Thure G. Eckart, and the 37-strong crew abandon their ship in a single remaining lifeboat. After the boat has cleared the steamer, LtCdr Ogawa scuttles it with a second torpedo at 12-55N, 80-33E. Nine hours later all survivors reach Madras.

30 January 1942:
S of Madras, Bay of Bengal. At 2233, I-64 torpedoes the 2,498-ton British-Indian merchant steamer JALATARANG (ex-ELIZABETH STONER), independently en route from Cochin to Rangoon with 100 tons of general cargo. LtCdr Ogawa scuttles the crippled vessel with gunfire at 12-59N, 81-00E. JALATARANG's master, Captain Robert C. Leitch, and 37 sailors are lost; 11 are rescued by the British steamer KEPONG.

31 January 1942:
Bay of Bengal, 50 miles S of Madras. At 1300 (GMT), I-64 torpedoes the 4,215-ton British-Indian cargo steamer JALAPALAKA (ex-FRANKLEY, ex-WILLIAM WALLACE), independently en route from Bombay to Rangoon in ballast. The submarine battle-surfaces and scuttles the damaged steamer at at 13-00N, 81-08E. 13 sailors are lost, the master, Richard S. Smith and 53 sailors are rescued by RIN auxiliary patrol ship IRRAWADI.

5 February 1942:
Arrives at Penang, Malaya.

6 March 1942:
Departs Penang on her third war patrol to raid enemy communications in the Indian Ocean.

10 March 1942:
SubDiv 29 is disbanded. I-64 is reassigned to SubRon 5's SubDiv 30 with I-65 and I-66.

13 March 1942:
Indian Ocean. 150 miles NE of Madras, off the Coromandel coast. Around 1210 (GMT), I-64 battle-surfaces on the 1,513-ton Norwegian armed cargo steamer MABELLA, independently en route from Colombo, Ceylon to Calcutta, India, in ballast. After receiving a dozen hits the crew abandons the ship. After the two lifeboats and one raft have cleared the steamer, I-64 resumes firing and finally scuttles MABELLA with a torpedo at 14-00N, 81-47E. Six sailors are killed in the attack; the survivors are rescued by the British steamer TANFIELD.

27 March 1942:
Returns to Penang.

1 April 1942:
LtCdr (Cdr, posthumously) Niina Yoshio (56)(former CEO of I-31) is appointed the CO.

2 April 1942:
Departs Penang for home waters.

12 April 1942:
I-64 arrives at Sasebo.

16 May 1942: Operation "MI" - The Attack on Midway:
I-64 departs Sasebo for Kwajalein and goes missing thereafter.

17 May 1942:
250 miles SSE of Cape Ashizuri, Shikoku, Japan. After an unsuccessful pursuit of the carrier SHOKAKU, damaged at Coral Sea, LtCdr (later Rear Admiral) Charles C. Kirkpatrick's USS TRITON (SS-201) has been redirected to a new area to intercept several outboud IJN submarines.

At 1803 (I), TRITON sights a surfaced "I-61 class or later" submarine, fitted with a net cutter. At 1817, from a 6,200-yard distance, Kirkpatrick fires his last remaining Mark 14 bow torpedo. It blows a part of I-64 a hundred feet into the air. In two minutes, she goes down by the stern at 29-25N, 134-09E. After 1827 a total of 42 smaller explosions are heard. At 1845 Kirkpatrick observes about 30 survivors clinging to deck grating.

20 May 1942:
Before I-64's loss is known, she is renumbered I-164.

25 May 1942:
Presumed missing south of Shikoku with all 81 hands.

10 July 1942:
Removed from the Navy List.

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Author's Notes:
Special thanks for help in preparing this TROM go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan and Mr. Jan Visser of the Netherlands. – Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp

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