I-400: Japan's Secret Aircraft-Carrying Strike Submarine: Objective Panama Canal

A well researched exposure of another of Japan's leaders' dreams turned to nightmare as the curtain dropped on their quest for empire. Creating the world's largest submarine as an aircraft carrier to bomb America's major cities and the Panama canal was a situation of too much and too late, especially since materials for such an effort dwindled as America's war effort closed in on the home islands. Japan had already established a tradition of misusing its submarine force. It's a great study on war time Japanese psyche.

Excelente libro, muy bien documentado, una excelente investigación desde la perspectiva Estado Unidense y Japonesa, arroja datos que hasta hoy eran desconocidos .

We heard about this book from Captain Ken Puckett on our 14-day Westbound Panama Canal cruise. Captain Puckett told us that the original authors lost their shirts on this book, but that it is the definitive work on the Japanese plan to bomb the canal during WW II. The information in this book was kept hidden by our government for many, MANY years, but came out when an I-400 was found off of Hawaii which was scuttled during the war. This book is required reading for any naval or WW II buff.

Shocking what was in store for us in WW2, The advancement of their subs was beyond belief at that time ..great read

The definitive work on the I-400 and the covert Japanese plan to strike the Panama Canal. This book is replete with unique interviews with former crewmembers, maps, schematics, and outstanding archival photos. I'm a big miltary history buff, particularly related to special operations (though the term was not in vogue during WW2), from ancient times to current operations. While it can be argued this was not a "special ops" mission, there's no arguing the fact that it was a very highly specialized mission requiring mission-specific equipment, weapons, and highly trained personnel with only one mission objective, to be completed under the utmost security. This book takes the reader through all aspects of these variables and is presented in a compelling manner. I'd definitely recommend this book to any student of special operations, but I think any WW2 history buff will also find this tale fascinating.

This is a phenomenally wonderful well-researched book available to the US market. I had known about the ultra secret I-400 class submarine and its Seiran aircraft for nearly two decades, however very little has been published within the US. Thus, it's subject matter has only been well known to students of the War for Greater East Asia, such as myself. Granted, my main specialty primarily concerns Japanese aviation and not wholly IJN ships. It was through my research of the Seiran that ultimately interested me in the I-400 itself. I believe the information presented on the plane alone is more than worth picking this up. Henry Sakaida... you have done it again!

There is virtually nothing available in English on these unique and interesting submarines, so I had high hopes for this book. But the authors mostly fail to deliver the goods. They are long on pretty color pictures of how the subs and their aircraft looked (or might have looked), but short on facts. There isn't even a decent diagram of the subs' interior layout, even though such plans have already been published in books by Shizuo Fukui and Erminio Bagnasco. Some of the technical information in the text is wrong (like degaussing cables protecting the hull from corrosion). Clearly none of the authors knew much about how WWII submarines operated. The weakest point of the book is that it relies heavily on interviews with former Japanese and American crewmen of I-400. Recollections of veterans are always suspect, and in this case the Japanese submariners and aviators have good reason not to be candid: Many of them were involved in the torture and murder of Allied merchant sailors and narrowly escaped prosecution as war criminals. The authors uncritically repeat a statement that these atrocities were instigated by the German Foreign Ministry. This is totally inconsistent with the Germans' own policy and I have never seen this claim before in the extensive literature on the Pacific War. The most annoying aspect of the book is that it completely fails to address the issue of whether the I-400 class was intended at one time for biological strikes against Los Angeles and San Francisco. This theory has been widely touted in recent years (even in a History Channel documentary) and is likely to be the main reason many people would want the book -- but to these authors it doesn't even exist!

This book is an eye opener on the I-400!! I never heard of this submarine in my study of World War Two from any source!! I am very pleased in this purchase!!! The book was Greatly Illustrated and had very informative captions!! My friends was amazed to read this book!! Amazon you provide some interesting books that our local book stores don't know exist!! Kudos to AMAZON!

excellent, very fast delivering!!! and a pleasant book to read

This book simply excels on reporting one of the intriguing weapons of WW2. I-400 backgrounds, its founding father Yamamoto's thoughts, building a fleet of bomber / sea plane carrying submarines are all there. Book also covers detailed plans on i-400 class usage to bomb Panama channel locks through a diversion move. And how plans came smaller and smaller until submarines i-400, i-401 and i-14 were in the end given to Americans when Japan surrendered. Book even has a pictures of one of the subs today, resting one kilometer deep in the Pacific Ocean. Decades of research and careful book building really shows here. This book also has numerous pictures and detailed graphs to help reader to realize the scale on these monster subs. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in WW2 submarines, war with carriers or WW2 wonder weapons, and how American right strategies can turn even best Japanese plans to nothing.