Mochitsura Hashimoto

Hashimoto was born in Kyoto as a younger son of a Shinto priest. He saw action in many crucial Pacific operations, and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 1944. Later he took command of the Submarine I-58, and sank the cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) on July 30, 1945, using ordinary torpedoes and sparing the lives of his kaitens (manned suicide subs). 879 of the cruiser's 1,196-man were killed -- the worst single at-sea loss of life in the history of the U.S. Navy. After the war, the US Navy brought Hashimoto to testify in the court martial against Indianapolis Captain Charles McVay, who was convicted for failing to zigzag, but Hashimoto testified that he would have been able to sink the cruiser regardless. Decades later, he also sent a letter to help exonerate McVay, who had eventually committed suicide under the weight of criticism. Hashimoto spent the final years of his life as a Shinto priest in Kyoto, dying at the age of 91 in 2000. Read More: