Mochitsura Hashimoto

Hashimoto Mochitsura
Born	October 14, 1909 Kyoto, Japan
Died	October 25, 2000(2000-10-25) (aged 91) Kyoto, Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Navy
Years of service	1931-1945
Rank	Commander
Commands held	Japanese submarine I-158, RO-44, I-58
Battles/wars	World War II *Attack on Pearl Harbor *Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
Awards	Order of the Rising Sun Order of the Golden Kite Order of the Sacred Treasure
Other work	Merchant Marine Captain, Shinto priest

In this Japanese name, the family name is "Hashimoto".

Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto (橋本以行, Hashimoto Mochitsura^?, October 14, 1909 – October 25, 2000) was an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy and the commander of several Japanese submarines during World War II including RO-44, I-158 and I-58.

Biography

Hashimoto was born in Kyoto as a younger son of a Shinto priest. As his older brothers had already chosen military careers, his father expected that Hashimoto would be the one to continue the family tradition of the priesthood. However, Hashimoto was set on joining the navy, which he did in 1927, joining the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy that year and being commissioned as an ensign in 1931. In 1934, Sub-Lieutenant Hashimoto volunteered for the submarine service, and served on destroyers before entering the Navy Torpedo School in 1939. He was selected for the submarine school of the navy the following year, and joined the submarine I-24 in 1941.

At the outbreak of World War II, Lieutenant Hashimoto was the torpedo officer on the submarine I-24. The I-24 launched the midget-sub at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which carried Kazuo Sakamaki, who became America's first prisoner of war of World War II.

Hashimoto saw action in many crucial Pacific operations. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 1944. Later in the war, Hashimoto was given command of the Japanese submarine I-58 which sank the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) on July 30, 1945. The sinking of the Indianapolis ultimately cost the lives of 879 of the cruiser's 1,196-man crew — the worst single at-sea loss of life in the history of the U.S. Navy.

A month prior to the Japanese surrender, in July 1945 Hashimoto was promoted from the rank of Lieutenant-Commander (Kaigun Shosa) (Naval Major) to the rank of Commander (Kaigun Chusa) (Naval Lieutenant Colonel).

After the war, Hashimoto was brought by the US Navy to testify in the court martial against Captain Charles McVay, commander of the Indianapolis who was convicted for "hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag." At the trial, Hashimoto testified that zigzagging would not have made a difference, for he would have been able to sink the cruiser regardless.^[1] Decades later, Hashimoto sent a letter to Senator John Warner as part of an effort to exonerate McVay.

Hashimoto re-started his post-war career as a captain of the repatriation ships that carried Japanese soldiers back home. In 1954 he joined Kawasaki Heavy Industries and later became its dockmaster.^[2] His most notable work at Kawasaki was that he and some of his former I-58 crew tested JMSDF's first post-war submarine Oyashio. Hashimoto spent the final years of his life as a Shinto priest at Umenomiya Shrine in Kyoto, dying at the age of 91 in 2000. Hashimoto married in 1932 and had two sons.

Promotions

• Kaigun Shoi (Naval Second Lieutenant-Ensign)-1931
• Kaigun Chuii (Naval Lieutenant-Sub-Lieutenant)-1934
• Kaigun Taii (Naval Captain-Lieutenant)-1941
• Kaigun Shosa (Naval Major-Lieutenant Commander)-1944
• Kaigun Chusa (Naval Lieutenant Colonel-Commander)-July 1945

Bibliography

• Dan Kurzman. Fatal Voyage, 1990.
• Hashimoto, Mochitsura (1954, reprinted 2010). Sunk: The Story of the Japanese Submarine Fleet, 1941-1945. Avon Books; reprint: Progressive Press. ISBN 1615775811. 

Notes

1. ^ ussindianapolis.org
2. ^ Sankei Shimbun 正論調査室

External links

• Sunk! – Review of book written by Mochitsura Hashimoto (English translation first published in 1954)

Persondata
Name	Hashimoto Mochitsura
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 14, 1909
Place of birth	Kyoto, Japan
Date of death	October 25, 2000
Place of death	Kyoto, Japan