This must have been a sight to see: a Japanese submarine captured at Pearl Harbor. I don’t know why it was set up out front of CBS Columbia Square studios at 6121 Sunset Blvd in Hollywood in 1943, but I sure would have been one of those people lined up to take a peek inside. (I’m surprised the line wasn’t longer.) I don’t know the context of what was going on here. Was the sub on tour? Was this the only place it was shown? Where did it end up? That booth on the left probably has some answers but the writing is too blurry to read.
Susan M said: “There were a few Japanese subs that toured the US during the war as part of the war bond effort. I don’t recall if I went to see this one at Columbia Square, but I did see the one at the LA Coliseum in ’42. They paraded it around the track during the SC-UCLA game that year. The really popular ones to see were the mini subs.”
See also: How one of Japan’s ‘secret weapons’ at Pearl Harbor ended up being the US’s first prisoner of war
That building is still there. NeueHouse is a shared office space company. This image is from May 2019:
This submarine is the Ha-19, Type A, Japanese midget submarine. This submarine was captured right after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The first POW of the war was one of two that were aboard this submarine.
This captured submarine went on tour through the US to help sell war bonds. It had holes cut in the side of the hull so that people could see inside of it.
The submarine currently resides at the Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, TX.
Thanks for this info. In that context, I’m sure it sold a lot of war bonds because people could actually have a tactile experience of what they were fighting.