IJN Submarines All Classes

[Brian James]

J3 Type Cruiser Submarine I-7 pictured on commissioning at Kure Naval Arsenal on March 31st 1937...She operated in support of the attack on Pearl Harbor, conducted anti-shipping patrols in the Indian Ocean, supported the Indian Ocean raid, and took part in the Guadalcanal campaign and the Aleutian Islands campaign. She was wrecked in the Aleutian Islands after a lengthy gun battle with Farragut Class Destroyer USS Monaghan in June 1943.

[Brian James]

I-121 Class Submarine I-21 pictured on commissioning at Kobe Naval Arsenal on March 31st 1927..She served during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. During the latter conflict, she conducted operations in support of the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, the bombing of Darwin, the Battle of Midway, the Guadalcanal campaign, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, and the New Guinea campaign. She surrendered at the end of the war in 1945 and was scuttled in 1946.
After she was renumbered I-121 in 1938, the number I-21 was assigned to a later Submarine which also served during World War II.

[Brian James]

Junsen III or J3 Type Submarine I-8 pictured in Kagoshima Bay on April 12th 1939...Designed as Submarine Aircraft Carriers, I-8 and her sister ship I-7 were the largest Japanese Submarines to be completed before the outbreak of the war in the Pacific in 1941. With embarked floatplanes, I-8 participated in operations related to the attack on Pearl Harbor, patrolled off the United States West Coast, and took part in the Guadalcanal campaign and the Okinawa campaign.
In 1943, I-8 completed a technology exchange mission with a voyage to German-occupied France and back to Japan, the only Submarine to complete a round-trip voyage between Japan and Europe during World War II. Under a new commanding officer in 1944, her crew committed war crimes during anti-shipping operations in the Indian Ocean. On March 31st 1945, the Destroyer USS Stockton detected a surface target on radar while screening a task group off the Kerama Islands. She approached the contact, which turned out to be I-8. I-8 crash-dived, after which Stockton made sonar contact on her. Over the next four hours, Stockton expended all of her depth charges in seven attacks against I-8.
I-8 surfaced just as Destroyer USS Morrison arrived on the scene to reinforce Stockton. I-8 immediately submerged again, but Morrison dropped a pattern of depth charges that forced I-8 to surface 900 yards from Morrison. After a 30-minute exchange of gunfire, I-8 capsized and sank by the stern in the Philippine Sea. One of Morrison′s boats picked up an unconscious petty officer who had been a member of I-8′s gun crew, and he was I-8′s only survivor.

[Brian James]

Launch day for B1 Type Submarine I-39 at Sasebo Naval Arsenal on April 15th 1942..On November 26th 1943, Battleship USS Massachusetts was steaming 80 nautical miles southwest of Tarawa as part of Task Group 50.2, when she detected a surface target 9 nautical miles to the southwest on radar at 22:52. At 23:02 Destroyer USS Boyd was detached to investigate. She detected a surfaced Submarine on radar at 23:20 and closed with it. She lost radar contact, apparently when the Submarine submerged, but Boyd then located the Submarine with her sonar. She dropped two patterns of depth charges, and heard a loud underwater explosion 15 minutes after the last attack. On the morning November 27th 1943, planes from the Carrier USS Enterprise flew over the area and reported a large oil slick on the surface. The Submarine probably was I-39, although it is possible that Boyd sank I-40, which also disappeared in the Tarawa area around the same time. An alternative account claims that the Destroyer Escort USS Griswold sank I-39 off Koli Point, Guadalcanal, on December 23rd 1943, although that location lies outside I-39′s patrol area and the date is four weeks after she last transmitted a message,
On February 20th 1944, the IJN declared I-39 to be presumed lost with her entire crew of 96 in the Gilbert Islands area. She was stricken from the Navy list on April 30th 1944.

[Brian James]

Launch day for B1 Type Submarine I-38 at Sasebo Naval Arsenal on April 15th 1942..(I-39 alongside)..She was sunk by depth charge attack from Destroyer USS Nicholas East of Palau on November 13th 1944.

[Brian James]

Kaidai Type, KD6A Subclass Submarine I-73 pictured in Ariake Bay on April 24th 1939...Built at Kawasaki Shipyards in Kobe and commissioned in 1937. One month after participating in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, she was torpedoed and sunk by Tambor Class Submarine USS Gudgeon on January 27th 1942 with the loss of 94 crew.

[Brian James]

I-121 Class Submarine I-23 pictured on completion at Kobe Naval Arsenal on April 28th 1928. She served during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. During the latter conflict, she conducted operations in support of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, the Battle of Midway, the Guadalcanal campaign, and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. She was sunk in 1942. I-123 and her three sister ships — I-21 (later renumbered I-121), I-22 (later renumbered I-122), and I-24 (later renumbered I-124) — were the Imperial Japanese Navy's only Submarine Minelayers.They were known in Japan by the type name Kirai Fusetsu Sensuikan (機雷敷設潜水艦, Minelaying Submarine), commonly shortened to "Kiraisen"-type Submarine (機雷潜型潜水艦, Kiraisen-gata sensuikan)