On 15 July 1943 "Hatsutaka" rendezvoused with German submarine "U-511", carrying Vice Admiral Nomura Naokuni, Japan's representative to the Axis Tripartite Commission in Berlin since 1941, and Major Sugita Tamotsu of the IJA Medical Service, Dr. Ernst Wörmann, ambassador to Wang Jingwei's pro-Japanese Reorganized National Government of China and Martin Spahn, leader-designee of the NSDAP (Nazi) party in Japan and three engineers from U-boat builder AG Weser at Bremen "Hatsutaka" escorted the German submarine to Penang. For the remainder of 1943 and first half of 1944, "Hatsutaka" operated along the Sumatra coast between Padang, Medan, and Sabang.