In 1944 Allied codebreakers learned the Imperial Japanese Navy had
dispatched the cargo submarine I-52 to occupied France with tons of
military supplies and payment—in gold—for German assistance. I-52
undertook the mission as part of the Yanagi missions, a military
program meant to alleviate Japan's desperate need for military
material and technical knowledge. After tracking I-52 from Asia to
the Atlantic, the Allies destroyed the vessel in a battle that
ended the Yanagi missions and left I-52 an unlikely treasure ship
on the seafloor. David W. Jourdan adds to the history of I-52 with
a spellbinding account of his efforts to find the sunken submarine.
One of the first joint American-Russian research expeditions, the
search for the wreck combined a team effort, exhaustive detective
work, and a dramatic battle with the sea. The effort paid off when
the group found I-52's nearly intact hull three miles down. The
expedition also earned an unexpected historical dividend when it
uncovered one-of-a-kind recordings of American Avenger torpedo
bomber attacks on an enemy submarine. Part war tale and part
seagoing adventure, Operation Rising Sun tells the story of the two
very different missions to find submarine I-52.