Japanese submarine I-177

History
I-176, lead submarine of the class that includes I-177
Empire of Japan
Name:	I-177
Commissioned:	28 December 1942
Fate:	Sunk by USS Samuel S. Miles (DE-183) on 3 October 1944
General characteristics
Class and type:	Kaidai type, KD7-class
Complement:	86

Japanese Submarine I-177 (I-77, until 20 May 1942) was a Kaidai type of cruiser submarine that saw service during World War II in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). I-177 was a KD7 sub-class boat, commissioned on 28 December 1942 and sunk by USS Samuel S. Miles (DE-183) on 3 October 1944, with no survivors.

War crimes

Following the end of the Pacific War, Australian war crimes investigators investigated if the I-177 and its Commander Nakagawa were responsible for sinking the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur. The Centaur was torpedoed off the Australian east coast on 14 May 1943.^[1] The torpedo ignited a fuel tank setting the ship ablaze. It rolled to port and sank within three minutes. Of the 332 crew, patients, medical staff and passengers on board, 268 died - only 64 were rescued.

Commander Nakagawa survived the war because he had been transferred from the I-177 before it was sunk. Several of the investigators suspected that Nakagawa and I-177 were most likely responsible, but they were unable to establish this beyond reasonable doubt. However, Nakagawa was charged with ordering the machine-gunning of survivors from torpedoed ships on three different dates in February, 1944. He was convicted and sentenced to four years imprisonment at Sugamo Prison as a Class B war criminal.^[2] Nakagawa refused to ever speak on the subject of the sinking of the Centaur, even to defend himself, until his death in 1991.

Citations

↑ Dennis & Grey 2009, p. 124
↑ Jenkins, Battle Surface, pp. 284–5

References

Combinedfleet.com HIJMS Submarine I-177: Tabular Record of Movement
Dennis, Peter; Grey, Jeffrey (2009). The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-551784-2.
Jenkins, David (1992). Battle Surface! Japan's Submarine War Against Australia 1942–44. Milsons Point, NSW: Random House Australia. ISBN 0-09-182638-1. OCLC 0091826381.

Kaidai type submarine

I-51-class (Type KD1)	I-51

I-152-class (Type KD2)	I-52

I-153-class and I-156-class (Type KD3)	I-53 I-54 I-55 I-56 ⁄ I-156 I-57 ⁄ I-157 I-58 ⁄ I-158 I-59 ⁄ I-159 I-60 I-63

I-162-class (Type KD4)	I-61 I-62 ⁄ I-162 I-64 ⁄ I-164

I-165-class (Type KD5)	I-65 ⁄ I-165 I-66 ⁄ I-166 I-67

I-168-class and I-174-class (Type KD6)	I-68 ⁄ I-168 I-69 ⁄ I-169 I-70 I-71 ⁄ I-171 I-72 ⁄ I-172 I-73 ⁄ I-173 I-74 ⁄ I-174 I-75 ⁄ I-175

I-176-class (Type KD7/Shin-Kaidai Type)	I-76 ⁄ I-176 I-77 ⁄ I-177 I-78 ⁄ I-178 I-79 ⁄ I-179 I-80 ⁄ I-180 I-81 ⁄ I-181 I-82 ⁄ I-182 I-83 ⁄ I-183 I-84 ⁄ I-184 I-85 ⁄ I-185

Imperial Japanese Navy submarines

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