Japanese submarine I-371

On 30 December 1944, I-371 departed Yokosuka bound for Truk and Mereyon Island at Woleai in the Caroline Islands on her first transport mission, carrying a cargo of 50 metric tons of food and mail, as well as aviation gasoline, spare parts, and ammunition for the Truk-based 171st Naval Air Group, which the aviators required to resume flights by Nakajima C6N1 Saiun ("Iridescent Cloud"; Allied reporting name "Myrt") reconnaissance aircraft over the American fleet anchorage at Ulithi Atoll.[2] She arrived at Truk on 18 January 1945 and unloaded the portion of her cargo destined for Truk.[2] During her stay, an Aichi E13A1 (Allied reporting name "Jake") floatplane arrived from Mereyon on 20 January 1945 with a coded message about I-371′s planned arrival there.[2]

On 22 January 1945 I-371 got underway from Truk bound for Mereyon, which she reached at around 22:00 on 25 January 1945.[2] She unloaded 50 metric tons of food and mail, allowing an increase in the daily ration of rice for each member of the starving Japanese garrison on Mereyon from 5 to 7 ounces (140 to 200 g).[2] She completed unloading her cargo at 03:00 on 26 January 1945 and headed back to Truk, where she arrived on 28 January 1945.[2] She embarked some passengers and put back to sea, bound for Japan, with an estimated arrival date of 21 February 1945.[2] She never arrived.[2]

The circumstances of I-371′s loss are not clear. At 11:13 on 24 February 1945, the United States Navy submarine USS Lagarto (SS-371) was operating in the Bungo Strait off the coast of Japan when she detected a surfaced submarine on radar at a range of 5,000 yards (4,600 m).[2] Lagarto sank the submarine at 32°40′N 132°33′E.[2] Her victim probably was I-371, although I-371 would have been running three days behind schedule to be in that location at that time.[2] Other accounts credit the destroyer USS Haggard (DD-555) with sinking I-371 off Okinawa on 23 March 1945, but that was 11 days after the Japanese had declared I-371 missing, and it is more likely that Haggard sank the submarine Ro-41.[2]

On 12 March 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared I-371 to be presumed lost in the vicinity of Truk along with all 84 crew and passengers on board.[2] She was stricken from the Navy list on 10 April 1945.[2]