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Naval History and Heritage Command

National Museum of the U.S. Navy

Japanese Midget Submarines

The Japanese Striking Force had five Type A midget submarines for the attack, which were transported on larger Type I submarines.  These submarines were launched the night prior to the attack.   USS Ward (DD-139) spotted one of the submarines trying to enter the harbor before dawn and was sunk.   One of the midget submarines was sunk by USS Monaghan (DD-354) as it tried to enter the harbor, while Ha-19 unsuccessfully tried to enter the harbor but drifted to the east coast of Oahu and was captured on December 8, 1941.   The third midget submarine was found in 1960 off the harbor entrance.   Returned to Japan, the submarine is exhibited at Eta Jima.   The midget submarine sunk by Ward was located by the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory about five miles off the entrance to Pearl Harbor and remains as part of the Pearl Harbor National Museum Landmark.   The first Pearl Harbor midget submarine has not been recovered, despite a midget submarine found off Oahu in the early 1990s.  Though tests have been done on the recovered piece, no documentation clearly links the submarine to the Pearl Harbor raid. 

Image:  80-G-32682Ha-19 (Japanese Midget Submarine), probably December 8, 1941.  Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.