Kaitens: Japanese kamikaze. Kaitens. Torpedo Warriors What was the name of the Japanese man-controlled torpedo

What were the real Japanese komikaze? The popularized and highly distorted image formed in the minds of Europeans has little to do with who they really were. We imagine the kamikaze as a fanatical and desperate warrior, with a red bandage around his head, a man with an angry look at the controls of an old aircraft, rushing towards the target, shouting “banzai!”. But kamikaze were not only air suicide bombers, they also acted under water.

Preserved in a steel capsule - a guided torpedo-kaiten, kamikaze destroyed the enemies of the emperor, sacrificing themselves for Japan and at sea.

Before proceeding directly to the story of “live torpedoes”, it is worth briefly diving into the history of the formation of schools and the ideology of kamikaze.
The education system in Japan in the middle of the 20th century was not much different from the dictatorial schemes for the formation of a new ideology. FROM early years children were taught that when they died for the emperor, they were doing the right thing and their death would be blessed. As a result of this academic practice, young Japanese grew up with the motto "jusshi reisho" ("sacrifice your life").
Plus, the state machine in every possible way concealed any information about the defeats (even the most insignificant ones) of the Japanese army. The propaganda created a false impression of Japan's capabilities and effectively convinced poorly educated children that their deaths were a step towards total Japanese victory in the war.
It is appropriate to recall the Bushido Code (the way of the warrior), which played an important role in shaping the ideals of kamikaze. Japanese warriors from the time of the samurai considered death literally as part of life. They got used to the fact of death and were not afraid of its approach.

Restored submarine Na-51 (Type C) on display in Guam

Educated and experienced pilots flatly refused to go into kamikaze squads, referring to the fact that they simply had to stay alive in order to train new fighters who were destined to become suicide bombers.
Thus, the more young people who sacrificed themselves, the younger were the recruits who took their places. Many were practically teenagers, not even 17 years old, who had a chance to prove their loyalty to the empire and prove themselves as “real men”.
Kamikaze recruited from poorly educated young guys, the second or third boys in families. This selection was due to the fact that the first (i.e. eldest) boy in the family usually became the heir to the fortune and therefore did not fall into the military sample.
Kamikaze pilots received a form to fill out and took five oath points:
The soldier is obliged to fulfill his obligations.
A soldier is obliged to observe the rules of decency in his life.
The soldier is obliged to highly revere the heroism of the military forces.
A soldier must be a highly moral person.
A soldier must live a simple life.

So unpretentiously and simply, all the "heroism" of kamikaze was reduced to five rules.
Despite the pressure of ideology and the imperial cult, not every young Japanese was eager to accept with a pure heart the fate of a suicide bomber, ready to die for his country. The kamikaze schools did have queues of young kids, but that's only part of the story.
It's hard to believe, but even today there are still "live kamikazes". One of them, Kenichiro Onuki, in his notes said that young people could not help joining the kamikaze squads, because this could bring trouble to their families. He recalled that when he was "offered" to become a kamikaze, he laughed at the idea, but changed his mind overnight. If he dared to disobey the order, then the most harmless thing that could happen to him is the stigma of "a coward and a traitor", and in the worst case, death. Although for the Japanese, everything can be just the opposite. By chance, his plane did not start during a sortie, and he survived.
The story of the submarine kamikaze is not as fun as the story of Kenichiro. There were no survivors left in it.

The idea of creating suicide torpedoes was born in the minds of the Japanese military command after a brutal defeat in the battle of midway atoll.
While Europe was unfolding known to the world drama, a completely different war was going on in the Pacific Ocean. In 1942, the Japanese Imperial Navy decided to attack Hawaii from the tiny Midway Atoll, the extreme western group of the Hawaiian archipelago. The atoll was home to a US airbase, which the Japanese army decided to launch its large-scale offensive from, destroying it.
But the Japanese miscalculated. The Battle of Midway was one of the main failures and the most dramatic episode in that part. the globe. During the attack, the imperial fleet lost four large aircraft carriers and many other ships, but accurate data on Japanese casualties have not been preserved. However, the Japanese never really considered their soldiers, but even without that, the loss greatly demoralized the military spirit of the fleet.
This defeat marked the beginning of a series of Japanese failures at sea, and the military command had to invent alternative ways of waging war. Real patriots should have appeared, brainwashed, with a gleam in their eyes and not afraid of death. So there was a special experimental unit of underwater kamikaze. These suicide bombers were not much different from aircraft pilots, their task was identical - sacrificing themselves to destroy the enemy.

Underwater kamikazes used kaiten torpedoes to carry out their mission under water, which means “the will of heaven” in translation. In fact, the kaiten was a symbiosis of a torpedo and a small submarine. He worked on pure oxygen and was able to reach speeds of up to 40 knots, thanks to which he could hit almost any ship of that time.
A torpedo from the inside is an engine, a powerful charge and a very compact place for a suicide pilot. At the same time, it was so narrow that even by the standards of small Japanese, there was a catastrophic lack of space. On the other hand, what difference does it make when death is inevitable.

1. Japanese kaiten in Camp Dealy, 1945.
2. Burning ship USS Mississinewa, after being hit by a kaiten in Ulithi Harbor, November 20, 1944.
3. Kaitens in drydock, Kure, October 19, 1945.
4, 5. A submarine sunk by American aircraft during the Okinawa campaign.

Directly in front of the face of the kamikaze is a periscope, next to the speed switch, which essentially regulated the oxygen supply to the engine. At the top of the torpedo there was another lever responsible for the direction of movement. The dashboard was crammed with all sorts of devices - fuel and oxygen consumption, pressure gauge, clock, depth gauge and so on. At the pilot's feet there is a valve for letting seawater into the ballast tank to stabilize the weight of the torpedo. It was not so easy to control a torpedo, besides, the training of pilots left much to be desired - schools appeared spontaneously, but just as spontaneously they were destroyed by American bombers.
Initially, kaiten were used to attack enemy ships moored in bays. A carrier submarine with kaitens fixed outside (from four to six pieces) detected enemy ships, built a trajectory (literally turned around relative to the location of the target), and the submarine captain gave the last order to the suicide bombers.
Through a narrow pipe, the suicide bombers penetrated into the cabin of the kaiten, batten down the hatches and received orders via radio from the captain of the submarine. The kamikaze pilots were completely blind, they did not see where they were going, because it was possible to use the periscope for no more than three seconds, since this led to the risk of detecting a torpedo by the enemy.

At first, kaitens terrified the American fleet, but then imperfect equipment began to malfunction. Many suicide bombers did not swim to the target and suffocated from lack of oxygen, after which the torpedo simply sank. A little later, the Japanese improved the torpedo by equipping it with a timer, leaving no chance for either the enemy or the enemy. But at the very beginning, kaiten claimed humanity. The torpedo was provided with an ejection system, but it did not work in the most efficient way, or rather, did not work at all. At high speed, no kamikaze could safely eject, so this was abandoned in later designs.
Very frequent raids by submarines with kaitens led to the fact that the devices rusted and failed, since the body of the torpedo was made of steel no more than six millimeters thick. And if the torpedo sank too deep to the bottom, then the pressure simply flattened the thin body, and the kamikaze died without proper heroism.

The first evidence of a kaiten attack recorded by the United States dates from November 1944. The attack involved three submarines and 12 kite torpedoes against a moored American vessel off the coast of Ulithi Atoll (Caroline Islands). As a result of the attack, one submarine simply sank, of the eight remaining kaitens, two failed at launch, two sank, one disappeared (although it was later found washed ashore) and one exploded before reaching the target. The remaining kaiten crashed into the Mississineva tanker and sank it. The Japanese command regarded the operation as successful, which was immediately reported to the emperor.
It was possible to use kaitens more or less successfully only at the very beginning. So, following the results of naval battles, the official propaganda of Japan announced 32 American ships sunk, including aircraft carriers, battleships, cargo ships and destroyers. But these figures are considered too exaggerated. American navy by the end of the war, it significantly increased its combat power, and it was increasingly difficult for kaiten pilots to hit targets. Large combat units in the bays were reliably guarded, and it was very difficult to approach them imperceptibly even at a depth of six meters, the kaitens also had no opportunity to attack the ships scattered in the open sea - they simply could not withstand long swims.

The defeat at Midway pushed the Japanese to desperate steps in blind revenge on the American fleet. Kaiten torpedoes were a crisis solution that the imperial army had high hopes for, but they did not materialize. Kaitens had to solve the most important task - to destroy enemy ships, and no matter at what cost, however, the farther, the less effective their use in hostilities was seen. A ridiculous attempt to irrationally use the human resource led to the complete failure of the project. War is over.

The popularized and highly distorted image of the Japanese kamikaze, formed in the minds of Europeans, has little to do with who they really were. We imagine the kamikaze as a fanatical and desperate warrior, with a red bandage around his head, a man with an angry look at the controls of an old aircraft, rushing towards the target, shouting “banzai!”. But kamikaze were not only air suicide bombers, they also acted under water.

Before proceeding directly to the story of “live torpedoes”, it is worth briefly diving into the history of the formation of schools and the ideology of kamikaze.
The education system in Japan in the middle of the 20th century was not much different from the dictatorial schemes for the formation of a new ideology. From an early age, children were taught that when they died for the emperor, they were doing the right thing and their death would be blessed. As a result of this academic practice, young Japanese grew up with the motto "jusshi reisho" ("sacrifice your life").
Plus, the state machine in every possible way concealed any information about the defeats (even the most insignificant ones) of the Japanese army. The propaganda created a false impression of Japan's capabilities and effectively convinced poorly educated children that their deaths were a step towards total Japanese victory in the war.

It is appropriate to recall the Bushido Code (the way of the warrior), which played an important role in shaping the ideals of kamikaze. Japanese warriors from the time of the samurai considered death literally as part of life. They got used to the fact of death and were not afraid of its approach.

Thus, the more young people who sacrificed themselves, the younger were the recruits who took their places. Many were practically teenagers, not even 17 years old, who had a chance to prove their loyalty to the empire and prove themselves as “real men”.

Kamikaze recruited from poorly educated young guys, the second or third boys in families. This selection was due to the fact that the first (i.e. eldest) boy in the family usually became the heir to the fortune and therefore did not fall into the military sample.

Kamikaze pilots received a form to fill out and took five oath points:

The soldier is obliged to fulfill his obligations.
A soldier is obliged to observe the rules of decency in his life.
The soldier is obliged to highly revere the heroism of the military forces.
A soldier must be a highly moral person.
A soldier must live a simple life.

It's hard to believe, but even today there are still "live kamikazes". One of them, Kenichiro Onuki, in his notes said that young people could not help but enroll in kamikaze squads, because this could bring trouble to their families. He recalled that when he was "offered" to become a kamikaze, he laughed at the idea, but changed his mind overnight. If he dared to disobey the order, then the most harmless thing that could happen to him is the stigma of "a coward and a traitor", and in the worst case, death. Although for the Japanese, everything can be just the opposite. By chance, his plane did not start during a sortie, and he survived.
The story of the submarine kamikaze is not as fun as the story of Kenichiro. There were no survivors left in it.

The idea of creating suicide torpedoes was born in the minds of the Japanese military command after a brutal defeat in the battle of Midway Atoll.

While the drama known to the world was unfolding in Europe, a completely different war was going on in the Pacific. In 1942, the Japanese Imperial Navy decided to attack Hawaii from the tiny Midway Atoll, the extreme western group of the Hawaiian archipelago. The atoll was home to a US airbase, which the Japanese army decided to launch its large-scale offensive from, destroying it.

But the Japanese miscalculated. The Battle of Midway was one of the major failures and the most dramatic episode in that part of the globe. During the attack, the imperial fleet lost four large aircraft carriers and many other ships, but accurate data on Japanese casualties have not been preserved. However, the Japanese never really considered their soldiers, but even without that, the loss greatly demoralized the military spirit of the fleet.

This defeat marked the beginning of a series of Japanese failures at sea, and the military command had to invent alternative ways of waging war. Real patriots should have appeared, brainwashed, with a gleam in their eyes and not afraid of death. So there was a special experimental unit of underwater kamikaze. These suicide bombers were not much different from aircraft pilots, their task was identical - sacrificing themselves to destroy the enemy.

Initially, kaiten were used to attack enemy ships moored in bays. A carrier submarine with kaitens fixed outside (from four to six pieces) detected enemy ships, built a trajectory (literally turned around relative to the location of the target), and the submarine captain gave the last order to the suicide bombers.

Through a narrow pipe, the suicide bombers penetrated into the cabin of the kaiten, batten down the hatches and received orders via radio from the captain of the submarine. The kamikaze pilots were completely blind, they did not see where they were going, because it was possible to use the periscope for no more than three seconds, since this led to the risk of detecting a torpedo by the enemy.

Very frequent raids by submarines with kaitens led to the fact that the devices rusted and failed, since the body of the torpedo was made of steel no more than six millimeters thick. And if the torpedo sank too deeply to the bottom, then the pressure simply flattened the thin body, and the kamikaze died without due heroism.

It was possible to use kaitens more or less successfully only at the very beginning. Thus, following the results of naval battles, the official propaganda of Japan announced that 32 American ships were sunk, including aircraft carriers, battleships, cargo ships and destroyers. But these figures are considered too exaggerated. By the end of the war, the American Navy had significantly increased its combat power, and it was increasingly difficult for kaiten pilots to hit targets. Large combat units in the bays were reliably guarded, and it was very difficult to approach them imperceptibly even at a depth of six meters, the kaitens also had no opportunity to attack the ships scattered in the open sea - they simply could not withstand long swims.

The defeat at Midway pushed the Japanese to desperate steps in blind revenge on the American fleet. Kaiten torpedoes were a crisis solution that the imperial army had high hopes for, but they did not materialize. Kaitens had to solve the most important task - to destroy enemy ships, and no matter what the cost, however, the farther, the less effective their use in hostilities was seen. A ridiculous attempt to irrationally use the human resource led to the complete failure of the project. War is over

The popularized and highly distorted image of the Japanese kamikaze, formed in the minds of Europeans, has little to do with who they really were. We imagine the kamikaze as a fanatical and desperate warrior, with a red bandage around his head, a man with an angry look at the controls of an old plane, rushing towards the target with cries of "banzai!". Japanese warriors since the time of the samurai considered death literally as part of life.

They got used to the fact of death and were not afraid of its approach.

Kamikaze pilots received a form to fill out and took five oath points:

The soldier is obliged to fulfill his obligations.
A soldier is obliged to observe the rules of decency in his life.
The soldier is obliged to highly revere the heroism of the military forces.
A soldier must be a highly moral person.
A soldier must live a simple life.

But kamikaze were not only air suicide bombers, they also acted under water.

The idea of creating suicide torpedoes was born in the minds of the Japanese military command after a brutal defeat in the battle of Midway Atoll. While the drama known to the world was unfolding in Europe, a completely different war was going on in the Pacific. In 1942, the Japanese Imperial Navy decided to attack Hawaii from the tiny Midway Atoll, the extreme western group of the Hawaiian archipelago. The atoll was home to a US airbase, which the Japanese army decided to launch its large-scale offensive from, destroying it.

Underwater kamikazes used kaiten torpedoes to carry out their mission under water, which means “the will of heaven” in translation. In fact, the kaiten was a symbiosis of a torpedo and a small submarine. He worked on pure oxygen and was able to reach speeds of up to 40 knots, thanks to which he could hit almost any ship of that time. A torpedo from the inside is an engine, a powerful charge and a very compact place for a suicide pilot. At the same time, it was so narrow that even by the standards of small Japanese, there was a catastrophic lack of space. On the other hand, what difference does it make when death is inevitable.

Midway operation

Tower of the main caliber of the battleship MUTSU (Mutsu)

1 Japanese kaiten at Camp Dealy, 1945 3. Kaitens in drydock, Kure, October 19, 1945. 4, 5. A submarine sunk by American aircraft during the Okinawa campaign.

Directly in front of the face of the kamikaze is a periscope, next to it is the speed switch, which essentially regulates the oxygen supply to the engine. At the top of the torpedo there was another lever responsible for the direction of movement. The dashboard was crammed with all sorts of devices - fuel and oxygen consumption, pressure gauge, clock, depth gauge and so on. At the pilot's feet there is a valve for letting seawater into the ballast tank to stabilize the weight of the torpedo. It was not so easy to control a torpedo, besides, the training of pilots left much to be desired - schools appeared spontaneously, but just as spontaneously they were destroyed by American bombers. Initially, kaiten were used to attack enemy ships moored in bays. A carrier submarine with kaitens fixed outside (from four to six pieces) detected enemy ships, built a trajectory (literally turned around relative to the location of the target), and the submarine captain gave the last order to the suicide bombers. Through a narrow pipe, the suicide bombers penetrated into the cabin of the kaiten, batten down the hatches and received orders via radio from the captain of the submarine. The kamikaze pilots were completely blind, they did not see where they were going, because it was possible to use the periscope for no more than three seconds, since this led to the risk of detecting a torpedo by the enemy.

At high speed, no kamikaze could safely eject, so this was abandoned in later designs. Very frequent raids by submarines with kaitens led to the fact that the devices rusted and failed, since the body of the torpedo was made of steel no more than six millimeters thick. And if the torpedo sank too deeply to the bottom, then the pressure simply flattened the thin body, and the kamikaze died without due heroism.

The defeat at Midway pushed the Japanese to desperate steps in blind revenge on the American fleet. Kaiten torpedoes were a crisis solution that the imperial army had high hopes for, but they did not materialize. Kaitens had to solve the most important task - to destroy enemy ships, and no matter what the cost, however, the farther, the less effective their use in hostilities was seen. A ridiculous attempt to irrationally use the human resource led to the complete failure of the project. War is over

Japanese boat Type A of Second Lieutenant Sakamaki at low tide on a reef off the coast of Oahu, December 1941

Japanese dwarf boats Type C on the American-captured island of Kiska, Aleutian Islands, September 1943

Japanese landing craft Type 101 (S.B. No. 101 Type) in Kure harbor after the surrender of Japan. 1945

Aircraft-damaged Yamazuki Mari transport and Type C dwarf submarine abandoned on the shores of Guadalcanal

Midget boat Koryu Type D at the shipyard Yokosuka Naval Base, September 1945

In 1961, the Americans raised the boat (Type A), which sank in December 1941 in the Pearl Harbor canal. The hatches of the boat are open from the inside, a number of publications report that the mechanic of the boat Sasaki Naoharu escaped and was captured

Underwater samurai

In 1281, Kublai Khan, the fifth Mongol great khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, decided to conquer Japan. In order to transfer his troops across the Korea Strait, the Khan decided to build a bridge, which had no equal in the world. It took ten thousand ships to build the gigantic structure. Soon, a wooden flooring was laid on the ships lined up in one line and the vanguard of the ruthless Mongol cavalry already rumbled on it with their hooves ... But then a typhoon suddenly flew in and destroyed the monstrous bridge in the blink of an eye. This saving typhoon received in Japanese history the name of the Divine Wind is kamikaze. Later, suicide warriors began to be called kamikaze.

During World War II, kamikazes were widely used in all combat operations. imperial army. "Running mines" threw themselves under enemy tanks and blew up barriers, kamikaze pilots sent their planes to enemy ships. And already towards the end of the war, at the end of 1944, underwater kamikazes appeared and began their terrible activities.

The idea of creating suicide torpedoes was born back in 1942 after the brutal defeat of Japan in the Battle of Midway Atoll. The loss of four aircraft carriers and many other ships by the imperial fleet upset the balance of naval forces. During the war there was a turning point. The American flag was confidently raised over the Pacific Ocean, and deep despondency set in among the ranks of the imperial officers and generals. And then two young submariners, Second Lieutenant Sekio Nishina and Lieutenant Hiroshi Kuroki, came up with the idea to use human-guided torpedoes against the United States Navy.

"The Will of Heaven"

Taking the largest Japanese torpedo and a small submarine as a basis, the officers began to sketch out the drawings, but quickly realized that they could not cope with the technical side on their own. The newly-minted inventors turned to the designer of the Naval Arsenal, Hiroshi Suzukawa, for help. Tom liked the innovative idea, and by January 1943, detailed drawings of the terrible weapon were ready. The matter remained small - to bring the innovation to the General Staff of the Fleet.

However, serious problems arose here, at this difficult moment for Japan, no one cared about the self-taught inventors. And then the officers acted in a truly samurai spirit: they wrote an appeal to the Minister of the Navy with their own blood.

In such matters, the Japanese are extremely scrupulous people, a letter written in the blood of the author will certainly be read, regardless of its content. It happened this time as well. Moreover, the admirals were so interested in the content of the letter that in eight months the construction of the first prototypes of the “wonder weapon” began.

The novelty was called "kaiten", which means "the will of heaven", but for the Japanese this name has a much deeper meaning. Kaiten is something that makes a drastic change in the course of affairs. . And the suicidal samurai were proud of their mission...

"My dear father, brother and sisters! I must tell you the truth: for several months now I have not been trained as a pilot. Instead, I am being trained to drive a new weapon, a guided torpedo, which I will have to lead alone against the enemy. I am proud that I was selected for such a mission. I will die the moment a torpedo hits the side of an enemy ship ... "(Yutaka Yokota, Suicide Submarines.

Miracle torpedo

What was a "kaiten"? In fact, it was a huge torpedo, more than twelve meters long, capable, with the help of a powerful engine running on pure oxygen, to reach speeds of up to forty knots and maintain this pace for a whole hour. Such a high speed made it possible to catch up with any ship that existed at that time.

Inside the torpedo, in addition to the engine and a powerful charge, a seat was provided for a potential suicide bomber. I must say that this space was very cramped even for a person of a fragile physique. Directly in front of the driver's face was a periscope. On the right was a handle for raising and lowering it. At the top right, a speed lever stuck out, regulating the supply of oxygen to the engine, placed behind the back of the kamikaze.

At the top left there was a lever for changing the angle of inclination of the horizontal rudders of the torpedo. By deflecting them to one side or the other by a larger or smaller angle, it was possible to change the rate of sinking or ascent. At the bottom left, at the very feet of the driver, there was a valve valve for letting sea water into the ballast tank. This was provided to stabilize the weight of the kaiten as oxygen was consumed.

And, finally, the rudder was located on the right. The control panel was strewn with dials for a gyrocompass, a clock, a depth gauge, a fuel gauge, and an oxygen pressure gauge. Under the driver's seat in each "kaiten" lay a small box of emergency food in case of an accident. Among the products there was also a flask of whiskey. The entire bow compartment of the torpedo was intended for a warhead. An explosion of more than one and a half tons of TNT, and this is almost five times more than the charge of any torpedo of that time, was capable of sending any large aircraft carrier to the bottom.

suicide schools

It was necessary to learn how to manage all this economy, and, first on the island of Otsujima, and then in other places, special secret bases"kaiten" - schools of suicide bombers.

There were plenty of those willing to give their lives for the emperor, and the school quickly filled with students. Basically, kamikaze pilots were sent here, never seeing their planes destroyed by the Americans during operations in the Philippines and near Midway Atoll. It was not so difficult to retrain from an airplane to a torpedo, and after a few months the first submarines armed with "kaiten" went in search of the enemy.

Initially, "kaiten" was intended to destroy ships anchored in bays. Its actions were planned as follows: a specially equipped submarine with four or six, depending on the capabilities of the submarine, attached to the outside of the hull, suicide torpedoes, went on a military campaign. Having found a worthy target, the commander gave the order to the kamikaze drivers. Thirty seconds was enough for the trained suicide bombers to get into the “kaiten” through a narrow, slightly more than half a meter in diameter pipe, close the hatch behind them and prepare for their last battle.

The commander of the submarine directed his ship with his nose to the target and gave the suicide bomber all the necessary information by phone, after which he gave the order to release the kaiten. The sailors disconnected the four cables that held the torpedo on the hull of the submarine, after which the kamikaze started the engine and moved independently towards the enemy. The torpedo went at a depth of four to six meters. The driver performed almost all the actions blindly, he could only afford to raise the periscope once, and then for no more than three seconds. A timely noticed "kaiten" enemy would simply shoot from machine guns, preventing the kamikaze from even approaching the ship.

Miracle Weapon Failed

The first trips to the sea showed that the "kaiten" is a potentially serious weapon, but the success of the Japanese in this field very quickly faded away. First of all, let down the torpedoes themselves. Too long trips under water led to the fact that the hastily assembled mechanisms of the "kaiten" were covered with rust, often the engines simply refused to start or the rudders jammed, and the suicide bomber ingloriously went to the bottom. The hulls of the kaiten, made of steel about six millimeters thick, were rather weak, already at a depth of about seventy-five meters they were flattened by water pressure.

The enemy destroyers scouring the surface did not improve the situation either. The submarine itself could have escaped, but, according to the descriptions of an eyewitness, after the attack with depth charges, “our six“ kaiten ”resembled celluloid toys that were accidentally dipped in boiling water. They were covered with dents, as if some giant five had closed around each of them, trying to crush it. Naturally, there could no longer be any talk of any use of suicide torpedoes "in trouble".

The second problem was the growing power of the American fleet. The possibility of sneaking up to the warships standing in the bays disappeared - they were too carefully guarded. The search for lone transports in the open ocean also did not bring good luck. As already mentioned, "kaiten" did not withstand long journeys. In addition, on a large ocean wave, they were extremely difficult to manage. Often, due to the wave, the kamikaze could not use the periscope and passed by the target, or the torpedo was literally thrown to the surface, and the enemy discovered it long before the attack.

Another "wonder weapon" did not live up to the hopes of the imperial fleet. The war ended in disaster for Japan, and the "kaiten", like their creators, became history.

In the final phase of World War II, Japan was forced to resort to harsh and unusual measures. In the army and navy, the so-called. teixintai - suicide fighters. at the cost own life they had to complete the combat mission and inflict any damage on the enemy. The most famous Japanese suicide bombers were kamikaze - pilots whose task was to attack ships or other enemy targets by ramming. There were also other teishintai. So, under water, the threat to the US fleet was posed by suicide bombers on guided torpedoes "Kaiten".

Project start

The idea of building guided torpedoes with a cockpit for the pilot appeared long before the final defeat of Japan. This original idea was proposed in the summer of 1942, shortly after the Battle of Midway. Submariners Lieutenant Hiroshi Kuroki and Junior Lieutenant Sekio Nishina decided to build a heavy large torpedo based on the units of the existing Type 93 product. The latter was the most powerful, long-range and high-speed torpedo of the Japanese fleet, and these features were proposed to be used in a new weapon. At the same time, the torpedo was not equipped with any guidance systems, which affected accuracy. H. Kuroki and S. Nishina proposed to build a human-controlled torpedo: the pilot could control it until the very entrance to the attack course.

Torpedo "Kaiten" model "Type 1" in one of the Japanese museums

Submariners had no experience engineering work which led them to seek professional help. By the fall of the 42nd, they were able to find a like-minded person in one of the design organizations. They became the engineer of the Naval Arsenal Hiroshi Suzukave. In January of the following year, the lieutenants and the designer completed the development of project documentation. It only remained to offer a new development to the military. There were problems with this. In view of the difficult situation on the fronts, the command of the army and navy stopped paying attention to enterprising inventors, working only with existing design bureaus.

According to some reports, H. Kuroki and S. Nishina got out of this situation in an unusual way: they used one old custom. The letter addressed to the Secretary of the Navy was written in the authors' blood. According to Japanese tradition, the addressee could not ignore such a message. As it turned out later, the leaders of the fleet not only got acquainted with the proposal, but also became interested in it. However, due to certain reasons, the new project started with a significant delay.

The development of full-fledged guided torpedoes began only in February 1944. In addition to the authors of the idea, specialists from the naval design bureau were involved in the project. The project was named "Kaiten" in honor of the mystical power, "the will of heaven", capable of radically changing the course of the war. A few months later, it became clear that the project could not live up to its name and have at least a noticeable impact on the course of the battles.

Initially, it was supposed to take the existing Type 93 torpedo and assemble a new product from its units, which would include a place to accommodate the pilot, control system, etc. In addition, at an early stage, the project was not associated with the sad but heroic fate of future pilots. It was planned that the pilot of the new guided torpedo would be able to put it on a combat course and leave his workplace. However, due to various technical, tactical, ideological and moral reasons, the authors of the project had to abandon the rescue of the pilot. However, this provided some advantages in combat, since the torpedo could be controlled until it hit the target.

The development of the first Kaiten project continued until the summer of 1944. At the end of July, the new apparatus was put to the test. In the shortest possible time, the torpedo was tested, finalized and put into serial production. The situation in the Pacific theater of operations was constantly deteriorating, and Japan needed a new "wonder weapon" that could change the course of the war. It was expected that the guided torpedo project could affect the course of hostilities.

Museum torpedo "Kaiten" model "Type 10"

Until the end of the Pacific War, Japanese engineers managed to develop several projects of Kaiten torpedoes, which differed from each other in various features and characteristics. At the same time, the basis of most projects was the Type 93 heavy torpedo or some of its parts. On its basis, torpedoes of the Type 1, Type 2, Type 4, Type 5 and Type 6 models were built. The later "Type 10" was based on the design of the "Type 92" torpedo. It is noteworthy that only one version of the Kaiten torpedo, Type 1, went into the series. All others, for a number of reasons, remained at the stage of construction or prototype testing. Consider some of the main models of guided torpedoes of the Kaiten family.

Representatives of the Kaiten family

The only serial guided torpedo of the Kaiten family was based on the units of the Type 93 product. It should be noted that the Type 1 project implied the widespread use of completely new components and assemblies designed specifically for the new one. This, in particular, causes a large difference in size and appearance guided and unguided torpedoes.

Especially for the new torpedo, a special hull with a maximum diameter of 1 m was developed. Inside this unit, it was proposed to place a warhead, tanks for compressed air and oxygen, as well as a cabin with the necessary controls. A warhead with a charge weighing 1550 kg was placed in the bow of the hull. According to calculations, the power of such a charge was enough to destroy any American ship. The warhead was equipped with three fuses: contact for detonation when it hit the target, electric for detonation control from the cockpit and automatic hydrostatic. The first two fuses were intended to detonate the warhead at the target, and the third ensured the self-destruction of the torpedo in the event of death and sinking to the bottom.

The general scheme of the torpedo "Type 1"

Behind the warhead was an oxygen cylinder for 1550 liters, which ensured the operation of the engine. In addition, there were nine cylinders of 160 liters of compressed air for pneumatic control of the rudders. Next to the cylinders, two small tanks were provided to control the trim. The second pair of such containers was located in the stern of the main body. Behind the bow group of tanks was the cockpit.

In the aft part of the hull, mounts were provided for installing the engine compartment. As the latter, the middle and tail sections of the Type 93 torpedo were used. There were fuel tanks and an engine with propellers. Also, on the borrowed engine compartment, rudders were attached to control the course and depth with a span of 800 mm.

The total length of the Kaiten torpedo in the Type 1 variant was 14.75 m, the maximum diameter was 1 m. For comparison, the Type 93 torpedo had a length of 9 m and a diameter of 610 mm. In a ready-to-launch form, a guided torpedo weighed 8.3 tons. A two-cylinder 550 hp engine. consumed kerosene and oxygen, allowing it to reach speeds of up to 30 knots (56 km / h). The working depth of the torpedo did not exceed 30-35 m, but the design made it possible to dive to 80 m. The maximum fuel range was 42 nautical miles (78 km).

It should be noted that the speed and range of the torpedo were inversely proportional to each other. So, at a maximum speed of 30 knots, the Type 1 torpedo could travel no more than 23-25 km. The maximum range was provided at a speed of no more than 12 knots. The main reason for this was the high consumption of oxygen used by the engine. At 12 knots, the engine consumed 1 kg of oxygen per minute, at 30 knots - 7 kg. Thus, the pilot had to take into account the supply of oxygen and fuel when building an approach to the target.

In the middle part of the torpedo there was a cockpit for the pilot. It housed the seat and a set of controls. The pilot had a compass, a depth gauge with an accuracy of 0.5 m (according to American data), a steering wheel and control systems various systems, including undermining the warhead. The cabin provided for two hatches, in the roof and bottom of the hull. The upper hatch in front was covered with a small curved shield. To monitor the situation, the pilot could use a retractable periscope with a stroke of 70 cm. In practice, the use of the periscope was associated with certain difficulties, since in the extended position he could unmask the torpedo. Once discovered, the suicide pilot had almost no chance of reaching the target.

The use of components mastered in production made it possible to quickly deploy the serial construction of new guided torpedoes. This, however, was not without problems. So, one of the authors of the project, H. Kuroki, died during a training exit to the sea. The death of Second Lieutenant Nishina was also associated with the Kaiten: he became a pilot and died during the first combat use such a weapon.

The general scheme of the torpedo "Type 2"

At the end of 1944, the Type 2 project appeared, which had minimal resemblance to the previous one. In general architecture, the Type 2 torpedo resembled a small submarine, although it was similar in layout to the Type 1. The torpedo "Type 2" had a length of 16.5 m, a hull diameter of 1.35 m and weighed 18.37 tons. There was a charge in the bow of this device explosive weighing 1550 kg, in the middle - the cockpit, in the aft - the engine compartment. As a power plant, a 1490 hp torpedo engine was used, which ran on hydrazine and hydrogen peroxide. The new torpedo could accelerate to 40 knots and cover up to 45 miles (83 km).

However, due to technological reasons, the Type 2 torpedo did not go into production. At the Hiro shipyard, only one such apparatus was built, which was used during the tests. The new torpedo proved too difficult to produce for the weakened Japanese industry. The suicide pilots had to continue operating Type 1 torpedoes.

The Type 4 project, which appeared in early 1945, turned out to be more successful. About fifty such torpedoes were built, but even in this case, full-scale mass production did not begin. main goal next project was the creation of a modification of the product "Type 2" with an engine that uses less expensive and dangerous fuel to handle. This time it was proposed to use an engine running on kerosene and oxygen. Similar power plants have already been used on various torpedoes and therefore did not cause claims from the command.

The general scheme of the torpedo "Type 4"

Due to the use of a new 1200 hp engine. the maximum speed of the Type 4 torpedo dropped to 20 knots (37 km/h), and the cruising range was reduced to 21 nautical miles (38 km). The decrease in performance led to a significant reduction in the series. Instead of full-scale construction in large batches, only 50 of these torpedoes were assembled. In addition, due to the low culture of production, there were violations of the tightness of the case, leaks in the fuel system, etc. Because of such problems, a number of torpedoes died before they could complete their combat mission.

The latest development of the Kaiten family was the Type 10 torpedo, the design of which was based on the Type 92 product. In order to simplify production, it was decided to return to the idea of using existing units. Moreover, this time even parts of the base torpedo hull were used.

In fact, the Type 10 was a Type 92 torpedo split in half, with a cockpit added between the two parts. In the bow of such a device was a 300-kg warhead and a front battery pack. The aft half of the hull contained a second battery pack and an electric motor. The base torpedo had a caliber of 530 mm, which did not allow the cockpit to be placed in its body. To do this, a special cylindrical unit with a diameter of 700 mm with conical fairings in front and behind was placed between the two halves of its body. On top of this insert, a small superstructure was provided for the pilot's head. Cylinders with compressed air for breathing were located on the outer surface of the body.

The general scheme of the torpedo "Type 10"

The total length of the Type 10 torpedo did not exceed 10 m, the total height (with a superstructure, without a periscope) was just over 1 m. The total weight of the torpedo was 3 tons. Batteries and a 6-kilowatt engine accelerated the torpedo to 7 knots (13 km / h). The cruising range did not exceed 2 nautical miles (less than 4 km).

Despite the extremely low performance, the Type 10 guided torpedo interested the military in the simplicity of its design. In the summer of 1945, the Japanese fleet ordered 500 of these torpedoes, but the industry managed to build only one prototype and no more than five serial ones. As a result, Type 10 torpedoes did not take part in the battles and became the trophy of the advancing enemy.

Exploitation

With a certain margin of time, the Japanese industry since the autumn of 1944 managed to build at least 300 Type 1 torpedoes. Other products of the Kaiten family were ordered and built in smaller quantities. As a result, the fleet managed to use only Type 1 and Type 4 torpedoes in combat. The remaining torpedoes never made it to the theater of operations.

Pilots were required to control the Kaiten torpedoes. In mid-1944, the first school of suicide bombers began its work, located on Otsushima Island in the Inland Sea of Japan. Soon after the opening of the school on Otsushima, similar institutions appeared in other parts of Japan.
A set of special requirements were presented to future cadets, the same as for other teixintai volunteers. The training consisted of several stages. First, for three months, the cadets learned to drive a speedboat using only a compass and a periscope. After that, training on simulators began, and only then did the cadets go to sea on the Kaiten training torpedoes.

"Cutting" and periscope torpedo "Type 1"

It was assumed that submarines and surface ships could become carriers of guided torpedoes. In addition, a project was being developed for the construction of land coastal bases with the necessary equipment. Thus, with the help of Kaiten torpedoes, it was planned to defend Japan both on the high seas and off the coast.

In practice, most often torpedoes were used together with carrier submarines. In this case, the submarine received a set of special equipment for transporting torpedoes. Several "Kaiten" were fixed on her body and connected to her with the help of special airlocks for pilots. After finding the target, the submarine captain had to give the command to prepare the torpedoes for launch. The pilots took their places through the airlocks and battened down the hatches. Through the intercom, the suicide bombers were given instructions about the target, turned the submarine towards the attacked ship and uncoupled the torpedoes.

After that, the pilot had to independently start the engine, head for the target and move at a depth of no more than a few meters in order to get into the underwater part of the target ship. To correct the course, the rise of the periscope was allowed, but in a combat situation this was associated with a great risk. Having found a torpedo, the enemy ship could easily shoot it at a safe distance.

Type 1 torpedoes had a fairly long range, which in some cases allowed the pilot to go to the target area, emerge, clarify its location, and only after that go to the combat course.

Also, guided torpedoes were based on some surface ships. In this case, they had to be transported on deck and launched into the water using a crane or rail device. Almost two dozen ships received cranes and rails for Kaiten torpedoes, but such equipment was not used in battles. Unlike ships, submarines could covertly deliver a torpedo to the target area and launch it unnoticed.

Combat use

From the autumn of 1944 to the summer of 1945, only ten cases of the use of Kaiten torpedoes in real combat operations were recorded. For this, about a hundred Type 1 torpedoes out of 300 built were used up. Practice has shown that the operation of such weapons is associated with great difficulties. As a result, the number of sunken American ships and vessels turned out to be extremely small.

Submarine I-47 - carrier of torpedoes "Kaiten", November 4, 1944

The first operation using the Kaiten was carried out on November 20, 1944. Submarines I-36 and I-47 with eight torpedoes arrived at Uliti Atoll (Caroline Islands) with orders to attack US ships and ships stationed there. In the cockpit of the first torpedo, launched from the I-47 submarine, was Sekio Nishina himself, one of the authors of the project. AT last Stand Nishina took with him an urn with the ashes of his colleague Hiroshi Kuroki, who died during the trials.

Eight suicide pilots from the submarines I-36 and I-47 successfully completed the task. They managed to blow up and burn the tanker USS Mississinewa, although only one torpedo broke through to the target. The ship burned down and sank. It should be noted that the third submarine with guided torpedoes, I-37, also participated in the raid, but it never reached the target. In the area of Leyte Island, this submarine was noticed by the US military. After that, the destroyers USS Conklin and USS McCoy Reynolds attacked the boat with bombers. I-37 and four Kaiten sank.

Fire on tanker USS Mississinewa as a result of being hit by a Kaiten torpedo

The next episode involving guided torpedoes occurred on January 9, 1945. In this battle, the Japanese squadron of one submarine was unable to enter the torpedo launch area, one was destroyed by American depth charges, and the rest were successfully "fired" by suicide bombers. As a result of this attack, the Japanese managed to seriously damage several American ships and sink the landing craft. All damaged ships were repaired and returned to service.

The last case of combat use of "Kaiten" was planned for mid-August 45th. On August 16, the I-159 submarine with four torpedoes entered the Sea of Japan with the task of finding and attacking a Soviet convoy. However, on August 18, the crew received a command to stop the mission and return to base. As a result of this order, the Soviet sailors, fortunately, did not manage to see the Japanese guided torpedoes in action.

According to official Japanese data, in the course of ten operations, the Kaiten pilots managed to sink 32 American ships. However, verification shows that this was a propaganda exaggeration. From American documents it follows that the suicide bombers managed to damage and sink no more than a dozen ships. At the same time, Japan lost a large number of carrier submarines and about a hundred torpedo pilots. It is unlikely that such results of combat use can be considered successful.

Submarine I-36 with Kaiten torpedoes on deck

The use of "Kaiten" from submarines and surface ships was associated with certain difficulties. Free hunting for American warrants in the ocean was an extremely difficult, lengthy and almost pointless undertaking. Attacking ships and vessels at the base was also not easy due to various means of protection. As a result, the effectiveness of guided torpedoes - already not very high - eventually fell to a minimum.

Since mid-1944, the Japanese industry has built about three hundred Type 1 torpedoes, one Type 2 and Type 6 prototype each, as well as fifty Type 4 products and half a dozen Type 10s. As a result, Type 1 torpedoes were mainly involved in the battles - about a hundred units of such weapons were used. The rest of the built torpedoes either went to scrap or became museum pieces.

The effectiveness of suicide bombers was unacceptably low. Having lost about a hundred well-trained fighters and several submarines with crews, the Japanese fleet sank or damaged about 10 enemy ships. As a result, the Kaiten torpedoes did not live up to their loud name. Despite their best efforts, they failed to influence the course of the war. The US offensive continued, and no guided torpedoes could prevent the coming defeat of the Japanese Empire.

According to the websites:
http://history.navy.mil/
http://chronoton.ru/
http://war-only.com/
http://combinedfleet.com/
http://hnsa.org/