IJN Submarines All Classes

[Brian James]

Type B2 Cruiser Submarine I-44 pictured on completion off Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on January 19th 1944...She served in the late stages of World War II, she conducted war patrols in the Pacific as a conventional Submarine before she was converted into a kaiten suicide attack torpedo carrier. She then conducted kaiten operations during the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa before she was sunk in April 1945. I-44 was lost sometime in April 1945, and the circumstances of her loss remain unknown.....Some Japanese historians have concluded that a hunter-killer group made up of the Light Aircraft Carrier USS Bataan (CVL-29) and several Destroyers sank I-44 on April 18th 1945, but it is more likely that the Submarine sunk in this action was I-56.
On April 29th 1945, a TBM Avenger of U.S. Navy Composite Squadron 92 (VC-92) took off from the Escort Carrier USS Tulagi (CVE-72) 220 nautical miles southeast of Okinawa at 14:18. During the flight, the Avenger's crew sighted a Japanese Submarine on the surface and dived on it from an altitude of 4,000 feet. As the Submarine crash-dived, the plane dropped a depth charge that exploded adjacent to the Submarine's conning tower. On its next pass, the Avenger dropped a Mark 24 Fido acoustic homing torpedo which exploded against the Submarine's hull, sinking it, this Submarine was probably I-44.
On May 2nd 1945, the IJN declared I-44 to be presumed lost in the Okinawa area with the loss of all 134 men aboard — 130 crewmen and four embarked kaiten pilots.

[Brian James]

Surrendered IJN Submarines I-400, I-401 and I-14 pictured at Pearl Harbor in 1946.

[Brian James]

No 6 Class Holland Type Submarine No 7 pictured at Kure Naval Arsenal dry dock on February 5th 1916.

[Brian James]

Type L, L4 Sub-Class Submarine No 72 ( Re-named Ro-61 on November 1st 1924), pictured on completion at Kobe Naval Arsenal on February 9th 1924. She was in commission at various times from 1923 to 1934, and was recommissioned in 1940. Before WWII, she served in the waters of Japan. During World War II, she took part in the Battle of Wake Island and the Aleutian Islands campaign, conducting the first attack on an enemy ship ever carried out by a Japanese Ro-type Submarine. She was sunk in August 1942.

[Brian James]

Launch Day for L Class, L2 Sub-Class Submarine No 29 (Re-named Ro-55 on November 1st 1924), at Mitsubishi Shipyards, Kobe Naval Arsenal on February 10th 1921. Ro-55 was decommissioned and placed in the Fourth Reserve at Yokosuka Naval District on December 15th 1938. The Japanese struck her from the Navy list on April 1st 1940.

[Brian James]

The handover ceremony pictured for Kriegsmarine Type IXC/40 U-Boat U-1224 at Kiel to the IJN on February 15th 1944. She was constructed at Deutsche Werft Shipyards, Hamburg and commissioned in October 1943 and used as a training ship for Japanese sailors. After the crew underwent three months of training, U-1224 was recommissioned into the IJN as Ro-501. Captain Narita was put in charge of the crew, and Ro-501 was then tasked to carry a load of war materials, blueprints, and other secret cargo from Kiel, Germany to Penang, Malaysia. The mission was never completed. While neither power was able to send meaningful reinforcements or armaments through territory controlled by the Allied powers, they were able to use Submarines to share some intelligence and weapons blueprints. Submarines offered security and their stealth allowed for a fair chance of success. Between 1942 and 1944, approximately 35 Submarines attempted the journey from Europe to the Far East, and at least 11 attempted the journey from the Far East to Europe. On its journey from Germany to Malaysia, Ro-501 carried precious metals, uncut optical glass, models and blueprints necessary to construct a Type IX U-Boat in addition to motors and blueprints for the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket fighter aircraft. It was also hoped that the trained Japanese sailors would pass along their expertise. The intended route to Penang was to take Ro-501 through the middle of the Atlantic Ocean west of the Azores and the Cape Verde islands, then around the Cape of Good Hope. She was to rendezvous with I-8 in the Indian Ocean to refuel before proceeding to her destination. However, Ro-501 ran into a USN hunter-killer group comprising Escort Carrier USS Bogue and five Destroyer Escorts, including USS Francis M. Robinson . The group's presence forced Ro-501 underwater for two days, during which her batteries were depleted and her captain radioed a coded signal that he was being pursued. This transmission was detected by the American ships with their high-frequency direction finding (Huff-Duff) equipment, enabling them to pinpoint the Submarine's location.
The Francis M. Robinson reported a submerged contact at 19:00 on May 13th 1944. The Destroyer Escort engaged the contact with a full salvo from its forward-throwing Hedgehog mount, followed by five salvos of magnetic proximity fused depth charges. Four underwater explosions were detected. All 56 hands aboard were lost - 52 crew (including a German radar operator and a German pilot) plus four IJN officer passengers.

[Brian James]

Kaiten Type 1 test launch pictured from Kuma Class Light Cruiser Kitakami, off Kure on February 18th 1945.

[Brian James]

Type C, C1 Subclass Submarine I-16 pictured on sea trials in Hiroshima Bay on March 9th 1940..Commissioned in 1940, she deployed a Midget Submarine for the attack on Pearl Harbor and for an attack on ships at Diego-Suarez in Madagascar, conducted an anti-shipping patrol in the Indian Ocean, and took part in the Guadalcanal campaign, New Guinea campaign, and Bougainville campaign...At 08:00 on May 14th 1944, I-16 got underway from Truk for a supply run to Buin on Bougainville to deliver rice in 75-pound rubber bags to Japanese forces fighting in the Bougainville campaign. She transmitted a message to the commander of Submarine Squadron 7 on Saipan in the Mariana Islands to inform him that her estimated time of arrival at Buin was 20:00 on May 22nd 1944. Fleet Radio Unit Pacific (FRUPAC), a U.S. Navy signals intelligence and cryptographic unit in Hawaii, intercepted and decrypted the message, which was passed through channels to the commander of U.S. Navy Escort Division 39 at Tulagi. Five days into I-16′s supply run to Buin, an American patrol plane sighted her on the surface 140 nautical miles northeast of Cape Alexander on Choiseul on May 19th 1944 and alerted the three Destroyer Escorts. England, George, and Raby began a line-abreast sonar sweep, and at 13:35 England detected I-16 on sonar. England attacked I-16 at 13:41 with the first of five Hedgehog spigot mortar barrages. After the last attack, a huge underwater explosion at an estimated depth of 500 feet or more lifted England′s stern 6 inches out of the water, marking the sinking of I-16. The first debris reached the surface 20 minutes later and included shreds of cork, deck planking, pieces of cabinetry, other objects, and finally a sealed rubber container with a bag of rice inside. Almost an hour later, a small oil slick appeared, and by May 20th 1944 it was 6 nautical miles long and 3 nautical miles wide. I-16 was the first of six Japanese Submarines England sank over a 13-day period in May 1944: Her later victims were Ro-106 on 22 May 22nd, Ro-104 on May 23rd, Ro-116 on May 24th, Ro-108 on May 26th, and Ro-105 on May 31st.

[Brian James]

Kaichū-Type, Kaichū IV Subclass Submarine No 58 (Re-named Ro-27 on November 1st 1924), pictured at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on March 20th 1924. Ro-27 was decommissioned on December 10th 1937 and placed in Fourth Reserve at Kure Naval District. She was stricken from the Navy list on April 1st 1940. She served subsequently as the training hulk Heisan No. 7 at the Submarine School at Kure. She was sold for scrap after WWII and scrapped at Iwakuni, scrapping was completed in October 1947.

[Brian James]

The launch of the first Holland Class, Submarine No 1 at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on March 30th 1905....Five were ordered from the Fore River Co (Holland company design) in 1902, after a Japanese naval mission visited Britain, France, and the United States. Built in great secrecy, they were sent disassembled by rail to Seattle, thence onward to Yokosuka, where they arrived December 12th 1904.