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Japanese Submarine Attack on Curry County (WWII) - Page 4

© Rick Francona

a few days earlier had saturated the woods, and rendered the bombs ineffective. Otherwise, the bombs could have started large forest fires.

After releasing the bombs, Fujita descended to low level and returned to the waiting submarine. A U.S. Army A-29 bomber aircraft on patrol from McChord Field in Tacoma spotted the submarine, now on the surface to recover Fujita’s aircraft. The A-29 attacked the submarine with several bombs, but only inflicted minor damage as the submarine dove to the relative safety of the ocean floor just west of Port Orford.

The captain of the I-25 mounted a second attempt to ignite a large fire in the Oregon forests. The submarine surfaced just after midnight on Tuesday, September 29, about 50 miles west of Cape Blanco. Alhough the entire west coast of Oregon was blacked out, the Cape Blanco lighthouse was still in operation. Using the light as a navigation beacon, Fujita flew east over the coast for about 90 minutes and dropped his bombs. Although Japanese Navy records indicate that Fujita observed flames on the ground after this attack, no traces of the attacks have ever been located. The only U.S. records of this attack were of an unidentified aircraft flying east of Port Orford.

The I-25 did not use its last two incendiary bombs, and reverted to torpedo attacks on American shipping. On Sunday, October 4, the submarine sank the tanker SS Camden off Coos Bay on the south Oregon coast.

The following Tuesday, the I-25 was successful again, this time sinking the tanker SS Larry Doheny off Cape Sebastian. The I-25 departed the Oregon coast a few days later. On October 11 while en route to its homeport of Yokosuka, the Japanese submarine torpedoed and sank the Soviet submarine L-16 while the Russians were in transit from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to San Francisco.

Later operations of the I-25:

On May 18, 1943, the I-25 torpedoed and shelled the American tanker H.M. Storey in the south Pacific. The I-25 was again noted conducting aerial reconnaissance of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides island chain.

However, the I-25’s luck had run out. On September 3, 1943, the U.S. Navy destroyers USS Ellet (DD-398) and USS Patterson (DD-392) sank the I-25 approximately 150 miles northeast of Espiritu Santo.

You can find more information about Port Orford and the Port Orford Lifeboat Station. To read more of Rick Francona's informative writing, catch him at Middle East Politics, here on Suite101.com. or look at his book "Ally To Adversary"

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