Japanese submarine I-362

On 21 August 1944, I-362 departed Yokosuka bound for Nauru on her first transport mission.[2] She arrived at Nauru on 14 September 1944, loaded 22 tons of ammunition and embarked 85 passengers, and got back underway the same day.[2] She proceeded to Truk, which she reached on 21 September 1944.[2] She unloaded her cargo and disembarked her passengers, then took aboard 83 Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service personnel and departed on 22 September 1944.[2] She returned to Yokosuka on 3 October 1944.[2]

I-362 got underway from Yokosuka on 24 October 1944 for her second transport voyage, this time setting course for Marcus Island, which she reached on 30 October 1944.[2] After unloading supplies, she left the same day bound for Yokosuka, where she arrived on 6 November 1944.[2] She then began an overhaul.[2]

With the overhaul complete, I-362 put to sea from Yokosuka on 1 January 1945 for her third supply voyage.[2] She was scheduled to call at Truk, then proceed to Meleyon Island at Woleai in the Caroline Islands, where she was scheduled to arrive on 21 January 1945.[2]

On 13 January 1945, the United States Navy destroyer escort USS Fleming (DE-32) was in the eastern Caroline Islands as one of two escorts for two merchant tankers making a voyage from Ulithi Atoll to Eniwetok when she established radar contact on an unidentified vessel at a range of 14,000 yards (12,800 m).[2] Fleming closed the range and challenged the vessel at a range of 4,000 yards (3,700 m), but the vessel did not reply.[2] Fleming continued to close, and lost radar contact at a range of 1,900 yards (1,700 m), but then immediately acquired a sonar contact, suggesting that the vessel was a submarine that had submerged.[2] Closing to 1,000 yards (914 m), Fleming illuminated the area in the direction of the contact with a searchlight, but her crew saw nothing on the surface.[2] She then dropped a pattern of depth charges, followed by four Hedgehog attacks — each of 24 projectiles — against the submarine.[2] Her last Hedgehog attack was just after midnight on 14 January 1945, and resulted in three underwater explosions followed by a deep, rumbling explosion that disabled Fleming′s sound gear.[2] Fleming′s crew then observed debris and an oil slick on the surface, marking the sinking of the submarine with the loss of all hands at 12°08′N 154°27′E.[2]

The submarine Fleming sank probably was I-362.[2] On 15 March 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared I-362 to be presumed lost with all hands off the Caroline Islands.[2] She was stricken from the Navy list on 10 April 1945.[2]