Nuclear Attack on SF

The Japanese planned a nulcear attack on San Francisco on August 17th. Just before the surrender of the Germans to the Allies, they sent out a u-boat (U-134) to Japan containing uranium, a disassembled Me-262, two Japanese officers, seven German officers, among other things. This u-boat, orriginally escorted by two others, was to reach Japan in time to give them the final materials to launch a nulear attack on the west coast of the U.S. This attack would have been carried out by the two giant submarines built by the Japanese, which were built as underwater aircraft carriers and could launch up to three planes each. These planes were to carry bombs and drop then on San Franciso. The bombs were not the kind the Americans were currently testing, they were not made to kill people from the blast, but rather through radiation. Luckily for the Allies defeated Germany before the u-boat got to Japan, and fearing how the Japanese would treat them upon reaching Japan, the Germans killed the Japanese officers on board, and sailed for the east coast of the U.S. to surrender. When the Americans found the nuclear material on board, they forced the crew of the u-boat to remove it. This finding could have sparked the U.S. to launch the attack on Hiroshima on August 6 (does anyone have an opinion on this??) because the Japanese could have easily obtained other nuclear material. Luckily for the Americans, the Japanese were still waiting U-134's arrival and proceeded as planned even after Germany's surrender, therefore, if the commander of U-134 hadn't surrendered, and America hadn't bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was very likely that the Japanese would have launched the attack.
Do you think the Americans would have bombed Hiroshima if they hadn't found the nuclear materials in U-134? What impact would any of these things have on the war (besides the obvious result of hundreds of thousands of Americans dying)? Does anyone have anything to add? (I love that game!)

 

According to U-boat.net, the U-134 was sunk in 1943 off the coast off Spain.

Both the U. S. Coast Guard Historian's website and Uboat.net state that the two Japanese officers aboard the U-234 committed suicide when they were informed that the U-234 intended to surrender to the Allies following Germany's surrender in May 1945. The PBS website states that "No one has ever determined -- or at least revealed -- the reason the Germans were sending the uranium to Japan."

I see that Uboat.net has an intriguing review of Joseph Scalia's book Germany's Last Mission to Japan: The Failed Voyage of U-234.

[ 25. September 2004, 06:26 PM: Message edited by: Deep Web Diver ]

 

Ya, thanks, it is U-234.

 

It really would have had little effect other than annoying the US and making for a miserable clean-up afterwords.
Uranium is an alpha emmitter when it decays. Alpha radiation is only a significant danger if the emmitter is ingested. Since uranium is quite heavy spreading it over a significant area creates little more than a clean up mess.
In 1945, since the effects of radiation on humans was not nearly as well understood as it is today the US likely would have had a large crew of workers assembled and simply swept up, shovelled, etc the mess away. In the short term (the first month or so after the attack) there would have been a few casualities, mostly among the clean up workers. In the long term (decades) a great many people, particularly among the clean up crew, would have contracted cancer of one sort or another.
On the whole, this attack would have been just another useless waste of resources and time in terms of the outcome of the war. The Japanese would have been better off using mustard gas. They would have gotten far more casualities and made a much harder to clean up mess.

 

I assume you are talking about the subs I-400 & 401 carrying the planes? Here is a good link:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/sen_toku.htm

I have heard rumors that they were going to be used in a suprise raid to knock out the Panama Canal...

 

Rumors? The I 400 class was originally designed for exactly that mission. They were really just a waste of materials....too much submarine not enought carrier. By the time they were actually built (only 4 out of 18 planned were completed) Yamamoto's plan was impractical and abandoned. Yet, these Sensuikan Toku remained the largest submarines built during the war. One other note: They all had schnorkels installed.

 

Schnorkels? I thought the correct English term to be snorkel, isn't it?

Btw I find it funny that U-234 was transporting U-235.

 

Making a "dirty bomb" and blowing it in the west coast of US would not have been much of the kind of revenge the japs would have been hoping for so probably the plan would not have been put into action. If the US scientist could not think of the possible later effects I don´t think the Japs could not either. And to think of it, in the 50´s the nuclear energy was first considered pollution-free...think about that. And how much radioactive pollution it has created in the end..

One book claimed that the U-boat tubes which had the uranium were such that they could carry German poison gas in them. I find it a bit hard to believe but I do have a feeling that getting the boat and its cargo changed something in the US politicians´ mind and made it easier to use the A-bomb on Japs.

 

I once read that in the early days the scientists used to warm there hands on the stuff.

Quite unbelievable now.

 

Its ok, the scientists dont need to warm their hands anymore.

For they have no hands

 

It's like old Radio Ham tales from "the Good Old Days" about taking the top off their set on cold winter nights, so they could heat themselves by the heat off the valves.
A journalist in Practical Wireless did tests about 15 years ago, and measured exactly how much Radio Frequency emission you exposed yourself to with this practice.
By coincidence (or not ) sales of second-hand valve sets mysteriously plummetted after the issue appeared!

 

Why San Francisco?

Which would have been the gay capital of the US if San Francisco was nuked? New Orleans? New York perhaps?