Secret WWII Japanese Subs Discovered

(National Geographic) - After 60 years in a watery Hawaiian grave, two World War II-era Japanese attack submarines have been discovered near Pearl Harbor, marine archaeologists announced. A special talking about these vessels and the find of the wreckage in the Pacific Ocean airs TUESDAY November 17 on the National Geographic channel.

Specifically designed for a stealth attack on the U.S. East Coast--perhaps targeting Washington, D.C., and New York City--the "samurai subs" were fast, far-ranging, and in some cases carried folding-wing aircraft, according to Dik Daso, curator of modern military aircraft at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum, speaking in the new National Geographic documentary Hunt for the Samurai Subs.

When World War II ended in 1945, the U.S. Navy seized the Japanese fleet in the Pacific, including five samurai subs, as they're called in the new film. The subs were later sunk, to keep the technology out of the hands of the Soviet Union.The military didn't record where the boats had been laid to rest, thinking no one would want to know.

For more details, click here for the remainder of the story: National Geographic Hunt for Samurai Subs....

For a preview of the National Geographic Special The Hunt for Samurai Subs, click here