Japanese submarine I-368

I-368 was laid down on 15 July 1943 by Yokosuka Navy Yard at Yokosuka, Japan, with the name Submarine No. 5468.[2] She was renamed I-368 on 25 January 1944 and provisionally attached to the Sasebo Naval District that day.[2] She was launched on 29 January 1944 and was attached formally to the Sasebo Naval District that day.[2] She was completed and commissioned on 25 August 1944.[2]

Upon commissioning, I-368 was assigned to Submarine Squadron 11 for workups.[2] On 2 November 1944 she was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 7.[2]

In January 1945, I-368 was converted from a transport submarine into a kaiten suicide attack torpedo carrier, the conversion involving the removal of her 140-millimeter (5.5 in) deck gun and Daihatsu-class landing craft and their replacement with fittings allowing her to carry five kaitens on her deck,[2][3] On 10 January 1945, she and the submarine I-370 took part in simulated kaiten attacks against towed targets in the Seto Inland Sea that lasted 15 days.[2]

The Battle of Iwo Jima began on 19 February 1945 when U.S. forces landed on Iwo Jima.[2] The landings had occurred sooner that the Japanese expected, so they ordered I-368 to cease kaiten training early and formed the Chihaya Kaiten Group, made up of I-368, I-370, and the submarine I-44, with orders to proceed to the waters off Iwo Jima and attack American ships there.[2] On 20 February 1945, I-368 became the first kaiten carrier to get underway for Iwo Jima, departing the kaiten base at Hikari.[2]

I-368 was dead in the water on the surface 35 nautical miles (65 km; 40 mi) west of Iwo Jima at 03:05 on 26 February 1945 when a United States Navy Grumman TBM-1C Avenger torpedo bomber of Composite Squadron 82 (VC-82) operating from the escort aircraft carrier USS Anzio (CVE-57) detected her on radar.[2] The Avenger overshot I-368 on its first pass, and she submerged.[2] The Avenger returned and dropped a float light marker and sonobuoys, followed by a Mark 24 "Fido" acoustic homing torpedo.[2] At 03:38, I-368′s conning tower briefly broke the surface near the float light marker, but she quickly dived again.[2] Another Avenger arrived on the scene and dropped more sonobuoys and another Fido, which sank I-368 at 24°43′N 140°37′E.[2] All 86 men on board were lost.[2]

On 6 March 1945, the Japanese ordered I-368 to return to Japan, but she never acknowledged the order.[2] On 14 March 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared I-368 to be presumed lost with all hands off Iwo Jima,[2] although she nonetheless was officially transferred from Submarine Squadron 7 to Submarine Division 15 when Submarine Squadron 7 was deactivated on 20 March 1945.[2] She was stricken from the Navy list on 10 April 1945.[2]

• Hackett, Bob & Kingsepp, Sander. IJN Submarine I-368: Tabular Record of Movement. Retrieved on September 16, 2020.