Dragons.

This is coolbert:

Naval commando World War Two, Japanese style!

This was a new one on me. Thanks to the tip from Billy and the article "Suicide Squads" by R O'Neill.

Fukurya. Combat divers functioning as a human mine, a suicide mission.

"The fukuryu 'crouching dragons,' were divers armed with lunge mines, each capable of sinking a landing craft up to 950 tons."

"These divers could stay submerged for up to 10 hours, and were to thrust their explosive charges into the bottom of landing craft and, in effect serve as human mines."

"1,200 Fukuryu graduated from Kawatana and Yokosuka Mine School with 2,800 still under training, They had a 'clumsy helmet', and were equipped with bulky air circulation and purification tanks. If this worked a man could stay at 50 ft down for 10 hours sustained by a supply of liquid food."

"They were to use a 22 lbs. (10 kg) impact fuzed charge on the end of a stout pole, rather like the anti-tank 'lunge mine'. Underwater pill boxes were to be constructed to provide shelter. These were arranged so each Fukuryu could cover an area of 390 sq, meters [20 X 20 yards]."

These Fukuryu ascending vertically and detonating their demolition on the bottom of a vessel. Death for the combat diver of course a certainty.

THERE WERE NO RECORDED INSTANCES [?] OF FUKURYU EVER BEING USED IN COMBAT. THE WAR CAME TO A CLOSE BEFORE THEY COULD BE EMPLOYED!

 Japanese also during the earliest stages of the war in the Pacific having surface combat swimmers, naval commandos referred to as "Kaiyu":

"a Kaiyu swimmer unit was 22 men strong each equipped with 3 grenades a knife and a wooden box 160 cu. inches ( 2,620 cu. cm) filled with the explosive Lyddite. These were surface swimmers and such swimmers had been used earlier in the war . . . to clear mines in Hong Kong."

Kaiyu similar to and having a mission analogous to American UDT [Underwater Demolition Team]. Fukuryu in a league all by themselves.

coolbert.