IJN Submarines All Classes

[Brian James]

Kaidai type, KD6 Sub-Class Cruiser Submarine I-68 (changed to I-168 after May 20th 1942), pictured on sea trials in Hiroshima Bay on July 26th 1934... She was completed at Kure Dock Yard on July 31st 1934. She was originally designated I-68. On November 23rd 1941, I-68 and the rest of Submarine Squadron 3 were stationed near lingam to perform reconnaissance duties in preparation for the impending Attack on Pearl Harbor. Still on station near Hawaii on December 13th, I-68 was subjected to 21 separate depth charge attacks. The last attack damaged her batteries and flooded the aft torpedo tubes. After undergoing repairs at Kwajalein, I-68 conducted several uneventful missions in the Pacific, before being re-designated I-168 on May 20th 1942 as part of a general Submarine re-numbering program undertaken by the IJN....At the Battle of Midway she sank the only American warships lost in the battle: Aircraft Carrier USS Yorktown and Destroyer USS Hammann. At that time she was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Yahachi Tanabe.... On July 27th 1943, I-168 engaged Gato Class Submarine USS Scamp in the Steffen Strait near New Hanover Island. After crash-diving his boat under an incoming torpedo, Lieutenant Commander Walter Gale Ebert returned fire, sinking I-168 with all hands.

[Brian James]

Kaidai Type, KD7 Sub Class Cruiser Submarine I-176 pictured on sea trials off Kure Naval Arsenal on July 31st 1942....The most successful Submarine of her Class, she severely damaged Northampton Class Heavy Cruiser USS Chester in October 1942 and sank the Gato Class Submarine USS Corvina in November 1943, the only Japanese Submarine to sink one of her American counterparts. I-176 was sunk on May 16th 1944 in the western Pacific by the USN Destroyers Franks, Haggard and Johnston.

[Brian James]

L Class, L3 Sub-Class Submarine No 46 (re-named Ro-57 on November 1st 1924), pictured on completion off Mitsubishi Dockyard, Kobe on August 1st 1922....The L type Submarines were built with Vickers naval technical guidance. All boats were built under licence at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-Kobe Shipyard by contract with Vickers.

[Brian James]

Kaichū Type, Kaichū III Subclass Submarine No 40 (renamed Ro-22 on November 1st 1924) pictured off Yokosuka on July 20th 1922, Ro-22 was stricken from the Navy list on April 1st 1934.

[Brian James]

Kaichū-Type Submarine, Kaichū I Subclass No 19 (re-named Ro-11 on November 1st 1924), pictured on completion at Kure Naval Arsenal on August 6th 1919..She and her sister ship Ro-12 were the first Submarines built to a fully Japanese design. She was commissioned in 1919 and operated in the waters of Japan. She was stricken in 1932...The Kaichu-Type Submarines were the first Submarines built to Japanese requirements and designed specifically for service in the waters of East Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Unlike European Submarines, which could lie on the bottom in the shallow waters of the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, Japanese Submarines needed superior depth control while operating in the deep waters of the Pacific.They also required stronger hulls than their European counterparts because of the tendency of the Pacific′s more powerful and unpredictable currents to disrupt a submerged Submarine′s trim and force her below her intended operating depth. The Kaichu Type thus were broader in beam in proportion to their length than European Submarines of the period and had a greater amount of internal compartmentation and more bulkheads than was common in other Submarines, resulting in more cramped and uncomfortable conditions for their crews but a hull strength that purportedly allowed them to survive collisions, groundings, and overly deep dives that would have destroyed European Submarines. In 1921, at least some naval analysts claimed that the Kaichu Type′s hull strength gave it a greater chance of surviving a depth-charge attack than any other existing Submarine Class.

[Brian James]

Kaidai Class Cruiser Submarine, KD3A Sub-Class No I-153 pictured on launch day at Kure Naval Arsenal on August 5th 1925...Following World War I, the Imperial Japanese Navy re-evaluated the use Submarine warfare as an element of fleet strategy due to the successful deployment of long-range Cruiser-Submarines for commerce raiding by the major combatant navies. Japanese strategists came to realize possibilities for using the weapon for long range reconnaissance, and in a war of attrition against an enemy fleet approaching Japan. Two large, long-range Japanese Submarines had already been built under the Eight-six fleet program as prototype (I-51 and I-52), however, the arrival on June 20th 1919 of seven German U-boats received by Japan as war reparations at the end of World War I led to a complete re-design. The Japanese quickly hired hundreds of German Submarine engineers, technicians and former U-boat officers unemployed by the defeat of Germany in World War I, and brought them to Japan under 5-year contracts. The American ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) estimated that some 800 German advisors had gone to Japan by the end of 1920. The Japanese also sent delegations to Germany, and were active in purchasing many patents. The Submarines of the KD3A Sub-Class were the first mass-produced Japanese-designed Cruiser Submarines. Based largely on the indigenous Kaidai Type II (I-52) a strengthened double hull, their design was also influenced by the largest of the German Submarines in Japanese hands, the SM U-125..Submarine Squadron 4 was disbanded on March 10th 1942, and I-53 was assigned to the Kure Guard Unit in Japanese home waters. Departing Staring Bay on March 16th, she arrived at Kure, Japan, on March 25th, and assumed duties as a Training Ship. She suffered minor damage when the Submarine Tender Chōgei grazed her in the Inland Sea on May 6th 1942, and on May 20th 1942 she was renumbered I-153.
On January 5th 1943, I-153 took part in a Naval Submarine School Submarine camouflage experiment in the Inland Sea in which she and the Submarine I-156 had a black camouflage scheme applied to their upper hulls and conning tower sides..Submarine Division 18 was deactivated on January 31st 1944, and I-153 was placed in reserve and transferred to the Hirao Branch of the Ōtake Submarine School to serve as a Training Hulk. She was laid up at Hirao on August 15th 1945, the day hostilities ceased..I-153 was surrendered to the Allies and was stricken from the Navy list on November 30th 1945. Apparently, she was among several captured Japanese Submarines sunk as gunnery targets by the Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Quiberon and the Royal Indian Navy sloop HMIS Sutlej in the Inland Sea on May 8th 1946, although some sources say she was scrapped in 1948 rather than sunk.

[Brian James]

Kō-Hyōteki Type A Midget Submarine No 36 pictured being prepared for loading on to Type No 1 Amphibious Assault Landing Ship No 5 at Oura Base on August 17th 1944.

[Brian James]

Launch Trials for Kō-Hyōteki Type C Midget Submarine No 69 from Type 1 Amphibious Landing Ship No 5, pictured off Nasake Island on August 17th 1944.

[Brian James]

Launch day for experimental high speed Submarine No 71 at Kure Naval Arsenal on August 29th 1938...Submarine No.71 was laid down by the Kure Naval Arsenal in December 1937 and was launched that same month in 1938 by being lowered into the water by a crane. She was completed in August 1938; trials showed that her small size and low-powered diesel made her hard to handle on the surface. While incapable of her intended speeds, she exceeded a submerged speed of 21 knots, almost five years before the famous German type XXI U-boats achieved speeds of around 18 knots. After extensive evaluations the boat was scrapped in 1940, and the lessons learned contributed to the development of the Sen Taka-Class, and the Sen Taka Sho-Class.....Submarine No.71 was designed to test high-speed performance underwater. Intended to reach 25 knots underwater and 18 knots on the surface, she proved to be too underpowered to reach those goals. Nonetheless, the boat was the fastest Submarine in the world underwater when built, beating the previous record set by the similar World War I-era British R-class. She displaced 216 tonnes surfaced and 244 tonnes submerged. Submarine No.71 was 140 ft 5 inches long, had a beam of 10 ft 10 inches and a draft of 10 ft 2 inches...For surface running, the boat was powered by a single 1,200-brake-horsepower (895 kW) diesel engine that drove one propeller shaft. When submerged the propeller was driven by a 1,800-horsepower (1,342 kW) electric motor. She could reach 13.25 knots; on the surface and 21.25 knots underwater. On the surface, Submarine No.71 had a range of 3,830 nautical miles at 12 knots; submerged, she had a range of 33 nmi at 7 knots. The boat was armed with three internal bow 17.7 inch torpedo tubes; each was provided with one torpedo.

[Brian James]

Kaidai Class Cruiser Submarine, KD4 Sub Class, Submarine I-61 pictured off Kure on August 29th 1931... On October 2nd 1941, with the commander of Submarine Division 29 on board, I-61 departed Sasebo with the Submarine Tender Rio de Janeiro Maru bound for a fleet gathering point at Murokusumi in Yamaguchi Prefecture. In the Koshiki Channel that evening, the Japanese Gunboat Kiso Maru mistook a red light she saw I-61 displaying aft of Rio de Janeiro Maru for that of a smaller vessel and misjudged her passing distance behind I-61. She collided with I-61 around 23:21. I-61 sank quickly, with the loss of all 71 men on board...In February 1942 I-61′s wreck was refloated, and it was sold for scrapping in 1942. I-61 was struck from the naval register on April 1st 1942.