Combined Fleet, Admiral Soemu Toyoda, and the commander of the 6th Fleet, Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Miwa, visited Otsujima to see off the kaiten pilots. On 8 November 1944, the Kikusui-tai Kaiten Group — made up of I-47 and the submarines and — got underway from Otsujima to conduct the first kaiten operation. Plans called for I-37 to target an American fleet anchorage at Palau with kaitens, while I-36 and I-47 were to carry out a kaiten attack on the U.S. anchorage at Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands, then proceed to Leyte Gulf to attack Allied ships with conventional torpedoes. On 16 November 1944, the submarines received a report from a Nakajima C6N1 Saiun ("Iridescent Cloud"; Allied reporting name "Myrt") reconnaissance aircraft which made a high-altitude flight over Ulithi Atoll and sighted four fleet aircraft carriers and three battleships as well as cruisers and destroyers in the north central part of the lagoon and transports, oilers, and other ships in the south-central part. By the evening of 18 November 1944, I-47 was west of Ulithi, and she began her approach to the atoll from the southwest. She surfaced off Ulithi at dawn on 19 November and moved in at to only off the atoll, observing over 200 ships in the anchorage. She surfaced again at 00:30 on 20 November 1944, and between 03:28 and 03:42 launched all four of her kaitens. At 05:47, one of them hit the U.S. Navy fleet oiler , which caught fire, capsized, and sank at 09:28. I-47 then withdrew on the surface at to head for her patrol area in Leyte Gulf. After she transmitted a report of the sinking of Mississinewa on 22 November, however, she and I-36 received orders on 24 November to return to Japan rather than proceed to Leyte Gulf. After stopping at Otsujima, the two submarines arrived at Kure, Japan, on 30 November 1944. On 2 December 1944, over 200 staff officers and specialists convened aboard the 6th Fleet flagship Tsukushi Maru to evaluate the results of the kaiten attack on Ulithi Atoll. After examining after-action reports and post-attack reconnaissance photographs, they credited the attack with sinking three aircraft carriers and two battleships. In fact, the attack had sunk only Mississinewa. Second kaiten mission On 8 December 1944, I-47 was assigned to the Kongo ("Steel") Kaiten Group along with the submarines I-36, , , , and for an attack scheduled