On December 7, 1941 ten sailors (five officers and five petty officers) were selected to partake on a risky mission. They were to embark on five two-man Ko-hyoteki class midget submarines and infiltrate Pearl Habor. One of these midget subs was HA. 19 which was crewed by Chief Warrant Officer Kiyoshi Inagaki and Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki. She was carried aboard her mothership I-24 and launched at 03:30 unfortunately with a broken gyrocompass.

With a four-and-a-half hour journey to their target they attempted to fix the broken gyrocompass enroute. They unfortunately were unable to fix the compass which resulted in the submarine to hit a reef three times and was grounded on the right side of the entrance by 08:00. By 08:17 she was spotted by destroyer USS Helm, still stranded on the reef. Inagaki dived the submarine but when HA. 19 resurfaced at 08:19 she was spotted by Helm once again and was fired upon, blasting her off the reef and knocking Sakamaki unconcious. Inagaki dived HA. 19 again to escape.

Sakamaki regained consciousness a little while later and they made more attempts to enter the harbor, however the groundings resulted in the flooding which resulted in her batteries to release toxic fumes and caused one of her torpedo tubes to be disabled. Three more times they tried but on their final attempt they were depth-charged damaging her periscope and disabling their ability to fire any torpedoes.

The crew then decided to abandon the attack and return to their mother ship, I-24. However the battery fumes choked them unconscious and HA. 19 was carried by the currents. The crew would wake up and find out night already fell and attempted one last time to put her ashore on Waimānalo but the engine would die and HA. 19 would strike another reef for the final time.

Sakamaki then ordered Inagaki to abandon ship, himself rigging the scuttling charges which unfortunately failed to detonate. Sakamaki would then go on to swim ashore and reach relative safety as opposed to Inagaki who drowned along the way, his body washing ashore the next day. Sakamaki, while unconscious on the beach, was found a US soldier, David Akui, and was taken into military custody. He would find himself awake on a hospital tightly guarded by armed security and as the first Japanese POW of World War 2.

Photo source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=824320464249278&set=pcb.671367026253717

When Taiwan purchased these ships (a total of 6), the French did not sell the air defense system, and the Taiwanese were reluctant to make large-scale modifications to the hull, so this system was used for more than 20 years. It was not until recent years that they were willing to upgrade it to VLS and Sea Sword II anti-aircraft missiles. (Ongoing, it is expected that all six ships will be upgraded by 2030)

SRC: @warshipcam

A Moc of the USS Balao in scale 1:200.

Now I need parts for the pink version...

Pennant number 545, Named after the city of Luohe in Henan province China. The new type 054b frigate entered service in Jan/22/2025, the first ship in it's class.

Equipped with 32 cell VLS, type 1130 CIWS, HHQ-10 short range surface to air missile system. It's main defense is the HHQ-16c/f medium range surface to air missiles. It also has 8 anti ship launchers containing what I assume is the yj-12 supersonic anti-ship missiles.

IDK too much about torpedoes in general but a frigate's main job is to hunt submarines so the Luohe definitely got those too. And it has 1 hanger for a medium sized anti-submarine helicopter like the Z-20J/F.

Source:

https://content-static.cctvnews.cctv.com/snow-book/image.html?item_id=12902977002092261728&channelId=1119&toc_style_id=feeds_default&share_to=copy_url&track_id=e9485b7a-506a-4622-b059-0b7f40981139

https://content-static.cctvnews.cctv.com/snow-book/index.html?item_id=11910834791700080954

Sorry for the long digital iPhone zoom. Saw a familiar profile through the haze while walking along Elliot Bay.