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By John J. Geoghegan

In 1941, the architects of Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor planned a bold follow-up: a potentially devastating air raid — this time against New York City and Washington, D.C. The classified Japanese program required developing a squadron of top secret submarines — the Sen-toku or I-400 class — designed as underwater aircraft carriers, each equipped with three Aichi M6A1 attack bombers painted to look like U.S.aircraft. The bombers, called Seiran (which translates as “storm from a clear sky”), were tucked in a huge, watertight hangar on each sub’s deck. The subs’ mission was to travel more than halfway around the world, surface on the U.S. coast, and launch their deadly air attack. This entire operation was unknown to U.S. intelligence. And the amazing thing is how close the Japanese came to pulling if off.