Japanese submarine Ro-41

The submarines of the K6 sub-class were versions of the preceding K5 sub-class with greater range and diving depth. For surface running, the boats were powered by two diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the K6s had a range of at ; submerged, they had a range of at . ==Construction and commissioning==

Ro-41 was laid down on 6 October 1942 by Mitsubishi at Kobe, Japan, with the name Submarine No. 207. She was launched on 5 May 1943 and was renamed Ro-41 that day. She was completed and commissioned on 26 November 1943. ==Service history==

Upon commissioning, Ro-41 was attached to the Maizuru Naval District and assigned to Submarine Squadron 11 for workups. and she was east of Legaspi on 7 November 1944 when she made sound contact on a westbound Allied task force. Ordered back to Japan on 8 November 1944, she made sound contact on a westbound Allied convoy at 02:40 on 12 November before arriving at Maizuru on 18 November 1944. Fifth war patrol Ro-41 departed Tokuyama on 24 December 1944 for her fifth war patrol, assigned a patrol area northeast of the Philippine Islands. By 4 January 1945 she was operating west of Luzon. U.S. forces entered Lingayen Gulf and U.S. forces landed on Luzon on 9 January 1945, but Ro-41 did not engage any Allied forces during her patrol. She arrived at Kure on 31 January 1945. Sixth war patrol On 7 March 1945, Ro-41 arrived at Maizuru, then departed the same day bound for Kure. She got underway from Kure on 10 March 1945 to carry supplies to Truk, but on 13 March received orders to abort her supply run and return to Japan so that she could take part in an interception of U.S. Navy Task Force 58. After an overnight stay at Kure from 15 to 16 March 1945, she moved on to Saeki. On 18 March 1945, she departed Saeki as the first of a force of submarines that also included , , and with orders to attempt to intercept the damaged U.S. aircraft carrier . The U.S. Navy submarine disappeared after transmitting a routine weather report south of Kyushu while proceeding east on 20 March 1945 while Ro-41 was in the area heading south, and some historians have credited Ro-41 with sinking Kete. Ro-41 never reported sinking, or even sighting, an enemy submarine, so it seems unlikely that she sank Kete. On 22 March 1945, Ro-41 was east of Okinawa when she transmitted a message reporting that she had sighted an enemy destroyer. The Japanese never heard from her again. Loss Later on 22 March 1945, the destroyer was operating as a picket ahead of Task Force 58 when her radar detected a vessel on the surface at a range of at 23:42. She and the destroyer closed the range. The contact disappeared from radar, indicating a diving submarine, but Haggard detected it on sonar and attacked it with depth charges. Shortly before midnight, the submarine broached off Haggard′s port beam, and Haggard′s Bofors 40 mm guns opened fire on its conning tower. Haggard turned hard to port and rammed the submarine on its starboard side abaft its conning tower. On 23 March 1945, the submarine sank by the stern at shortly after midnight, leaving no survivors. Having suffered heavy bow damage while ramming the submarine, Haggard proceeded to the fleet anchorage at Ulithi Atoll for repairs, accompanied by Uhlmann. The submarine Haggard sank probably was Ro-41. On 15 April 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared her to be presumed lost in the Okinawa area with all 82 hands. She was stricken from the Navy list on 25 May 1945. ==Notes==