Loss of the last major American warship

By William H. Stewart
Special to the Saipan Tribune

This is a continuation of a series of articles commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the war in the Pacific.

Fourth of a seven-part series

Captain Hashimoto was returned to the United States after the war to testify at Captain McVay’s court martial. The following is the actual testimony of the pertinent portions of Japanese Captain Mochitsura Hashimoto’s comments at the trial of U. S. Navy Captain Charles McVay as provided by the Navy-Marine Corps Appellate Review Activity, Office of the Judge Advocate General, Washington.

Captain Hashimoto was flown to the United States and on Dec. 13, 1945 testified as to the events surrounding the sinking of the Indianapolis. The following describes his testimony (edited by the author because of space limitations).

“The accused then requested permission to examine the proposed witness Mochitsura Hashimoto, Japanese enemy alien, as to his understanding of taking an oath and as to his competency to testify in this case as a witness for the prosecution, citing and reading from Wharton’s Criminal Evidence, sections 1164 and 1165.”

“The court announced that permission was granted. Upon request of the accused, the challenged witness took the stand and was examined on his voir dire as follows”: (Note that an interpreter was used and Captain Hashimoto’s testimony and is presented in the third person).

Examined by the accused:

“Question (Q): Hashimoto, what is your religious belief?

Answer (A): (As given by the interpreter) He is a Shintoist.

Q. What do you know of the meaning of truth and falsehood?

A. He says he is fully aware of the difference between truth and falsehood.

Q. What happens in your religion if you tell a falsehood?

A. Should he happen to utter any falsehood, he will have to pay for it; that is to say, he will be punished for it.

Q. Does your religion include a belief in the life hereafter?

A. He believes that the soul exists after death.

Q. And that this punishment for falsehood will be in the hereafter?

A. He believes that the punishment, under his religion—that is, according to his religion, he believes that he will be punished during his life for any falsehood or wrongdoing that he my utter, or wrongdoing that he may do, but that upon his death there will be forgiveness.

Q. Do you have any knowledge of Christianity?

A. Yes, he has some slight knowledge of Christianity.

Q. Do you know what perjury means?

A. He has full knowledge of it.

Q. Is there punishment in Japanese law for perjury?

A. He says he doesn’t know all the details, but he knows he is of the opinion that they are punished.

Q. Are you listed on any of the lists of war criminals of any of the Allied Powers?

A. He is not, to his—his knowledge—his name is not on any list of war criminals.

The judge advocate did not desire to examine this witness on voir dire.

At this point the court announced that the court ruled that the proposed witness Mochitsura Hashimoto, Japanese enemy alien, understood the taking of an oath and that he was competent to testify as a witness at this trial.

The President of the Court then administered the pains and penalties oath to the witness. Said oath was then interpreted by a duly sworn interpreter, in Japanese to said witness Hashimoto—which he then signed.

Q. State your name, rank and present duty.

A. Hashimoto, Mochitsura, commander, in His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Navy, Reserve—at the present, here at the disposition of this court.

Q. How long have you been a commander?

A. I have been a commander since—since September ninth of this year—since September sixth—correction, please; since September sixth of this year.

Q. What duties were you performing in the Japanese Navy during the night of 29-30 July, 1945?

A. Serving as captain of submarine I-58.

Q. In what position was your ship at or about 2305 on that evening?

A. In position bearing 355 degrees from Palau, distance 290 miles.

Q. If anything happened at or about 2305 zone minus nine time on that evening in question, that was of particular interest to you, tell the court what it was—to you—Commander Hashimoto.

A. On the supposition that at that time the visibility would have improved and the moon would be out, he brought his submarine to the surface. Thereupon, under the moon, he discerned a dark object and crash-dived immediately, and then swung his ship around to head in its direction.

Q. And what—from his knowledge now—was the position of his ship relative to the dark object at that time?

A. His position was established still, roughly at 10,000 meters, bearing 90 degrees from true—with the target bearing 90 degrees true.

Q. Then what did you do after sighting this dark object?

A. He submerged and headed towards the object and prepared to fire torpedoes and launch Kaitens. (1)

Q. How long after sighting this target did it take you to arrive at the estimate of course and speed of the target?

A. It took about 10 minutes to swing around and steady on a course heading for the target, and at the end of that time he was—roughly—he had roughly made up his mind as to the target’s course and speed.

Q. And what was that?

A. Speed, 12 knots, course, 260.

Q. You have said that you took 10 minutes to arrive at an estimate of the target’s course and speed—then what did you do?

A. He completed preparation for firing torpedoes, he set up the problem on his director, that is he put in the estimates, and then awaited the proper time to fire.

Q. Then what did he do?

A. It became apparent that the target was approaching off his starboard bow, so he swung his ship to starboard, then when the target had approached within a distance of 1,500 meters, he fired his torpedoes. After firing, he put up his periscope and saw his torpedoes make three hits in the forward part of the ship between the bridge and the bow. Thereafter he heard an explosion from what he took to be a fourth torpedo hit, and saw a cloud of water aft of the ship’s bridge. Thereafter he swung his ship further to the right, and—he had bounced up when he fired his torpedoes, and at the same time lowered his periscope. At that time he heard—a total of 10 explosions, of which several were louder than the rest.

Q. What kind of torpedoes did you fire?

A. Type 95 torpedoes, propelled by oxygen.

Q. What kind of warheads were on these torpedoes?

A. Five warheads were magnetic, one inertia type.

Q. Did you fire these torpedoes independently, or did you use a spread?

A. The torpedoes were fired with a spread of 3 degrees and at intervals of 3 seconds.

Q. Why did you not use Kaitens?

A. Kaitens weren’t used, first, because he was delayed in determining the type of target; secondly, because it was night; and, thirdly, because torpedoes were considered to be sufficient.

Q. Did you make any further studies in relation to the type of ship which was your target?

A. Subsequent to the time that he fired the torpedoes, he looked into a book of silhouettes for the ship that he saw at the time of firing.

Q. How did you know that this target was not a Japanese ship?

A. At the time the submarine left Kure, there were no Japanese vessels navigating in this area. The arrangements were made to be advised by wireless if subsequent to the time of departure friendly vessels should navigate in this area, and as he had no advice by wireless, he knew in this instance that it wasn’t a Japanese vessel.

Q. Did you take any prisoners from this ship you testified you torpedoed?

A. He took no prisoners.

Q. Was the target zigzagging at the time you sighted it?

A. At the time of the sighting of the target, there was an indistinct blur, and he is unable to—was unable to determine whether or not it was zigzagging.

Q. Was it zigzagging later?

A. There is no question of the fact that it made no radical changes in course. It is faintly possible that there was a minor change in course between the time of sighting and the time of attack.

Q. Would it have made any difference to you if the target had been zigzagging on this attack?

A. It would have involved no change in the method of firing the torpedoes, but some changes in maneuvering”.

The accused did not desire to recross—examine this witness. Commander Hashimoto left the courtroom and was returned to Japan.

To be continued.

(1)The Kaiten was a human torpedo built as a suicide weapon. The were based on the Type 93 long-lance torpedo.

Published in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II

William H. Stewart is a military historical cartographer and has mapped many of the World War II Pacific battlefields. He is the author of the books, Saipan In Flames (translated into Japanese) and Ghost Fleet of the Truk Lagoon now in its 6th printing.

Reference sources: Due to space limitations many reference sources have been omitted. This information will be furnished those interested when requested from the author at e-mail: spno@zoomnet.net.