10 December 1941:
Two SBD aircraft from USS Enterprise CV-6 (The Big E) attack and sink the Japanese submarine I-70 north of Hawaiian Islands. A participant in the Pearl Harbor attack, I-70 is the first major Japanese combatant ship sunk during World War II.
I-70 was part of a group of submarines sent to patrol off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. That day, it failed to answer a radio call. The last radio received from the submarine was on December 9, 1941 when it reported seeing USS Enterprise near Naval Station Pearl Harbor.
On December 10, 1941, it was sighted by a Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless aircraft from USS Enterprise from VS-6 after 6:00 AM. The aircraft scored a near-miss with a 1,000-pound bomb which damaged its hull and prevented it from diving. Later that day, another SBD of VS-6 saw the damaged submarine. Although the submarine attempted to maneuver and was even able to fire its 13 mm deck machine gun, the SBD was able to climb to 5,000 feet and hit the ship amidships with a bomb, blowing several gunners overboard. The sub stopped and then disappeared underwater about 45 seconds later.
The famous BIG E strikes back first…
Image: US Navy photo. Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless scout bombers, of Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6). Composite photograph of 9 planes in flight, with USS Enterprise (CV-6) and a plane guard destroyer below. The original photo is dated 27 October 1941. Note differences in ocean surface wave patterns between the upper and lower images, skillfully blended to combine the two photographs. (Nasvource)
