Operation Storm
Japan's Top Secret Submarines and Its Plan to Change the Course of World War II
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4.3 • 7 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The riveting true story of Japan's top secret plan to change the course of World War II using a squadron of mammoth submarines a generation ahead of their time
In 1941, the architects of Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor planned a bold follow-up: a potentially devastating air raid—this time against New York City and Washington, DC. The classified Japanese program required developing a squadron of top secret submarines—the Sen-toku or I-400 class—designed as underwater aircraft carriers, each equipped with three Aichi M6A1 attack bombers painted to look like U.S. aircraft. The bombers, called Seiran (which translates as “storm from a clear sky”), were tucked in a huge, water-tight hanger on the sub’s deck. The subs' mission was to travel more than halfway around the world, surface on the U.S. coast, and launch their deadly air attack. This entire operation was unknown to U.S. intelligence. And the amazing thing is how close the Japanese came to pulling it off.
John Geoghegan’s meticulous research, including first-person accounts from the I-401 crew and the U.S. capturing party, creates a fascinating portrait of the Sen-toku's desperate push into Allied waters and the U.S. Navy's dramatic pursuit, masterfully illuminating a previously forgotten story of the Pacific war.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pearl Harbor was not Admiral Yamamoto's only sneak attack. Within weeks of December 7, 1941, he approved a plan to build 18 enormous I-400 submarine aircraft carriers that would traverse the seas, surface, and launch 54 planes to bomb Washington, D.C., or New York City. Yamamoto's strategy stood in stark contrast to those of the Americans; whereas the latter spent a fortune on a futuristic weapon that would go on to cause unprecedented destruction, Japan's expensive, high-tech submarine program was primarily meant to frighten. Despite diminishing supplies and American bombing, three submarines were eventually completed, though only two were launched near the end of the war, and these were captured by American forces just weeks after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Aviation historian Geoghegan's virtuoso research turns up surviving witnesses and obscure documents to corroborate this engrossing story of politics, logistics, and the technological leaps and bounds made during wartime, and the resulting tale is a thrilling take on a little-known aspect of the conflict in the Pacific theater. 8 pages of b&w photos.
