Japanese Forces

Mochitsura Hashimoto

submarine commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, At the outbreak of World War II, Lieutenant Hashimoto was the torpedo officer on the submarine I-24. The I-24 launched the midget-sub at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which carried Kazuo Sakamaki, who became America's first prisoner of war of World War II. Hashimoto saw action in many crucial Pacific operations. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 1944. Later in the war, Hashimoto was given command of the Japanese submarine I-58 which sank the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) on July 30, 1945. The sinking of the Indianapolis ultimately cost the lives of 879 of the cruiser's 1,196-man crew — the worst single at-sea loss of life in the history of the U.S. Navy. Following the Japanese surrender, in November 1945 Hashimoto was promoted from the rank of Lieutenant-Commander (Kaigun Shosa) (Naval Major) to the rank of Commander (Kaigun Chusa) (Naval Lieutenant Colonel). Hashimoto re-started his post-war career as a captain of the repatriation ships that carried Japanese soldiers back home. In 1954 he joined Kawasaki Heavy Industries and later became its dockmaster[2]. His most notable work at Kawasaki was that he and some of his former I-58 crew tested JMSDF's first post-war submarine Oyashio. Hashimoto spent the final years of his life as a Shinto priest at Umemiya Taisha (梅宮大社) in Kyoto, dying at the age of 91 in 2000. Hashimoto married in 1932 and had two sons