How a Japanese Ship Failed Spectacularly at Pearl Harbor

Lt. Kermit Tyler’s eyes lit up at what he saw on his screen: a large blip 132 miles north of the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

It was just after 7:02 a.m., and even the skeleton crew working the night shift at Fort Shafter’s aircraft information center were stunned by Tyler’s eye-catching reading.

Could their radar equipment be malfunctioning? How many ships came?

And most importantly – were they American?

It was December 7, 1941, and the world would soon be shocked by the deadly events that would drag America into World War II.

Meanwhile, as those American crews watched their radar, a small, 40-ton submarine known only by its designated battle number, HA-19, was cutting through the waves nearby, writes Bill Newcott for National Geographic.

Even before the first Japanese bomb was dropped on Pearl Harbor, HA-19 and four other Type A Kō-hyōteki-class midget submarines were to make the first strike on the “Sleeping Giant” in the harbor.

However, most did not make it that far.

“Because the small subs had to surface frequently for fresh air, four of them were spotted by patrol ships and destroyed with depth charges,” Newcott wrote.

It was here—outside the harbor—that the Pearl’s first spirited American defense took place—not from fierce, modern destroyers, but from the USS Ward, a vintage Wicks-class destroyer—the ship first touched water in 1918.

Unfortunately, however, Ward’s team ignored the incident report. Had that been the case, America would not have been so distracted by the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“I wasn’t sure it was a real attack,” said Admiral Pati E., commander in chief of the US Pacific Fleet. Kimmel later said of Ward’s report.

According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, at least one midget sub was able to enter the harbor before the USS Monaghan sank there.

The HA-19, on the other hand, never even came close.

Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki and Chief Warrant Officer Kiyoshi Inagaki, the two crew aboard the HA-19, had difficulties from the start. Their gyrocompass did not work, and they spent the early hours of December 7 bumping into reefs and coral reefs outside Pearl Harbor.

In fact, when the Japanese bombardment began, the HA-19 found itself there – stuck.

According to the National World War II Museum, it was there that the USS Helm spotted the foundering vessel and opened fire.

“The shells fell too close to knock Sakamaki unconscious as Inagaki dived the submarine away from trouble. They made further attempts to enter the harbor to the point where the submarine’s bow was not fired by a torpedo. Seawater crept in through the crushed nose and now began to roll slowly from HA-1-9. Poisonous smoke,” the museum wrote.

With no chance of survival inside the doomed vessel, the two men decided to abandon ship and once ashore prepared to engage in hand-to-hand combat to the death.

But before they could, smoke engulfed the pair, knocking them unconscious. They woke up that evening, missing the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Only Sakami made it ashore alive. Inagaki drowned after attempting to charge an explosive to destroy the dwarf.

Crawling ashore, Sakamaki soon encountered the tips of American rifles. He begged to be killed, but the GIs refused.

Thus, Sakamaki achieved the dubious distinction of becoming the first Japanese POW of World War II.

Since that day of infamy, four of the five Japanese midget submarines have been found, the HA-19 is currently on display at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Some historians controversially argue that a midget submarine managed to fire its torpedoes at the USS Oklahoma or the USS West Virginia and may still be hiding in the harbor’s depths.

Still, “you have 300 planes in the sky and five midget subs,” Robert Citino, senior historian at the National WWII Museum, told History.com. “Although each had a direct hit, there were more missiles flying through the air than gliding under the sea. In its shadow, submarines become a footnote.”