Japanese submarine Ha-201
Ha-201 was an Imperial Japanese Navy "Ha-201"-class submarine. Completed and commissioned in May 1945, she served during the final months of World War II. She surrendered at the end of the war in September 1945 and was scuttled in April 1946. Design and description. At the end of 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy decided it needed large numbers of high-speed coastal submarines to defend the Japanese Home Islands against an anticipated Allied invasion (named Operation Downfall by the Allies). To meet this requirement, the "Ha-201"-class submarines were designed as small, fast submarines incorporating many of the  same advanced ideas implemented in the German Type XXI and Type XXIII submarines. They were capable of submerged speeds of almost . The "Ha-201" class displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of . For surface running, the submarines were powered by a single diesel engine that drove one propeller shaft. When submerged the propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and submerged. On the surface, the "Ha-201"-class submarines had a range of at ; submerged, they had a range of at . Their armament consisted of two torpedo tubes  with four torpedoes and a single mount for a 7.7-millimeter machine gun. Construction and commissioning. "Ha-201" was laid down on 1 March 1945 by the Sasebo Naval Arsenal at Sasebo, Japan, as Submarine No. 4911, the lead unit of the "Ha-201"-class. She was renamed Ha-201 on 5 April 1945 and was attached provisionally to the Sasebo Naval District that day. Launched on 23 April 1945, she was completed and commissioned on 31 May 1945. Service history. Upon commissioning, "Ha-201" was attached formally to the Sasebo Naval District and assigned to Submarine Division 33 in the Kure Submarine Flotilla for  workups. While conducting workups in the Seto Inland Sea, she was reassigned to Submarine Division 52 on 20 July 1945. "Ha-201" had not yet conducted an operational patrol when hostilities between Japan and the Allies ended on 15 August 1945. She surrendered to the Allies at Sasebo on 2 September 1945. On 2 November 1945, she was reassigned to Japanese Submarine Division Three under United States Navy command along with her sister ships , , , and . Disposal. The Japanese struck "Ha-201" from the Navy list on 30 November 1945. She was among a number of Japanese submarines the U.S. Navy scuttled off  the Goto Islands in Operation Road's End on 1 April 1946. After all the other submarines had been sunk that day, "Ha-201" and the large submarine , lashed together for scuttling, were sunk as gunnery targets by the destroyers and . The submarines sank together at 16:24 just beyond the line due east of Kinai Island at .