What happened to the missing subs and crews?

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, five type A, Ko-hyoteki midget-subs were launched from five large Japanese fleet subs near the entrance of Pearl Harbor. Their mission was after being launched already submerged, they would cut through the anti-submarine nets with their special net cutters wielded to the nose of the sub or sneak past the nets and destroyers on guard at the entrance into Pearl Harbor. They would navigate counterclockwise around Ford Island and fire their torpedoes into any American ships they encountered. Then exit the harbor to rendezvous with their mother subs seven miles west of Lanai Island. This was an extremely dangerous mission but was never intended to be a suicide mission. Yet the crews knew escaping the harbor after the attack was very slim to probably none. However, there was another secret escape plan. In 1941 only two of the subs were accounted for, one was sunk by the destroyer USS Monaghan (DD-354) and one was aground on an Oahu beach. There was one possibly sunk that was fired on by the destroyer USS Ward (DD139), the Ward gun crew claimed a direct hit on the base of the conning tower, but the sub was not located in 1941 or for years after.

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