Japanese submarine I-184

The submarines of the KD7 sub-class were medium-range attack submarines developed from the preceding KD6 sub-class. They displaced {{Convert|1833|LT|t|0|disp=flip|sp=us}} surfaced and {{Convert|2602|LT|t|0|disp=flip|sp=us}} submerged. The submarines were {{convert|105.5|m|ftin|sp=us}} long and had a beam of {{convert|8.25|m|ftin|sp=us}} and a draft of {{convert|4.6|m|ftin|sp=us}}. They had a diving depth of {{convert|80|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} and a complement of 86 officers and crewmen.Carpenter & Polmar, p. 105

For surface running, the submarines were powered by two {{convert|4000|bhp|lk=in|0|adj=on}} diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged, each propeller was driven by a {{convert|900|hp|0|adj=on}} electric motor. The submarines could reach {{convert|23|kn|lk=in}} on the surface and {{convert|8|kn}} underwater. On the surface, the KD7s had a range of {{convert|8000|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|16|kn}}; submerged, they had a range of {{convert|50|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|5|kn}}.Chesneau, p. 199

The submarines were armed with six internal {{convert|53.3|cm|in|1|abbr=on|sp=us}} torpedo tubes, all in the bow. They carried one reload for each tube for a total of 12 torpedoes. They were originally intended to be armed with two twin-gun mounts for the Type 96 25 mm AT/AA Gun anti-aircraft gun, but a 12 cm 11th Year Type naval gun deck gun for combat on the surface was substituted for one 25 mm mount during construction.Bagnasco, pp. 183, 186

I-184 was laid down by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal at Yokosuka, Japan, as Submarine No. 162 on 1 April 1942.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170301145320/http://ijnsubsite.info/I-Sub%20Details/I-184.htm I-184 ijnsubsite.com 2 November 2018 Accessed 19 June 2022]}}{{cite web |url= http://www.combinedfleet.com/I-184.htm |title=IJN Submarine I-184: Tabular Record of Movement |first1=Bob |last1=Hackett |first2=Sander |last2=Kingsepp |work=combinedfleet.com |date=1 August 2016|access-date=19 June 2022}} She soon was named I-84, then was renamed I-184 on 20 May 1942. She was launched on 12 December 1942 and completed and commissioned on 15 October 1943.Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 172

On the day of her commissioning, I-184 was attached to the Sasebo Naval District and assigned to Submarine Squadron 11 in the 1st Fleet, an element of the Combined Fleet. Submarine Squadron 11 was reassigned to the 6th Fleet, another element of the Combined Fleet, on 25 November 1943. In late November 1943, I-184 took part in antisubmarine warfare exercises in the Iyo Nada in the Seto Inland Sea with the submarine tender {{ship|Japanese submarine tender|Chōgei||2}} and the submarines {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-42||2}}, {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-43||2}}, {{ship|Japanese submarine|Ro-40||2}}, and {{ship|Japanese submarine|Ro-113||2}}.

On 28 January 1944, I-184 got underway from Kure, Japan, to test-launch the new Mark 1 naval mine. She was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 22 in the 6th Fleet on 31 January 1944.

On 25 February 1944, I-184 received a temporary assignment to the Northeast Area Unit for duty in northern waters. She departed Sasebo, Japan, on 26 February 1944, visited Ōminato in northern Honshu from 29 February to 4 March 1944, and made an overnight stop at Paramushiro in the northern Kuril Islands from 11 to 12 March 1944 before beginning a war patrol in the waters of the Aleutian Islands. After an uneventful patrol, she called at Ōminato from 9 to 11 April 1944 before proceeding to Yokosuka, which she reached on 13 April 1944.

I-184 departed Yokosuka on 20 May 1944 to carry food and supplies to the starving Japanese garrison on Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. She arrived at Mili on 12 June 1944, unloaded her cargo, and got back underway the same day.

On 13 June 1944, amid indications of an imminent American invasion of the Mariana Islands, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Soemu Toyoda, activated Operation A-Go for the defense of the Marianas. The same day, the commander of the 6th Fleet, Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi, ordered all submarines under his command to deploy in the central Pacific Ocean east of Marianas as part of the defense. I-184′s specific orders called for her to take up a patrol station in between those assigned to the submarines {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-5||2}} and {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-185||2}}.

The Marianas campaign began with American amphibious landings on Saipan on 15 June 1944. With the Battle of Saipan underway, Takagi′s ability to command the 6th Fleet from the fleet's headquarters on Saipan was disrupted, and command of the fleet passed to the commander of Submarine Squadron 7, Rear Admiral Noboru Owada, at Truk Atoll in the Caroline Islands. On 15 June, Owada ordered I-184 to proceed to Saipan. That day, I-184 acknowledged the order and reported her estimated time of arrival at Saipan as 00:22 Japan Standard Time on 18 June. The Japanese never heard from her again.

The Battle of the Philippine Sea began on 19 June 1944 as Japanese naval forces moved to attack the American landing force at Saipan and the United States Fifth Fleet engaged the approaching Japanese. A U.S. Navy TBM-1C Avenger torpedo bomber of Torpedo Squadron 60 (VT-60) flying an antisubmarine patrol from the escort aircraft carrier {{USS|Suwanee|CVE-27}} dropped below the cloud cover {{convert|20|nmi}} southeast of Saipan on 19 June and sighted I-184 on the surface. As I-184 crash-dived, the Avenger′s pilot dropped depth charges just ahead of her track, sinking her at {{coord|13|01|N|149|53|E|display=inline,title}}. There were no survivors.

On 12 July 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared I-184 to be presumed lost with all 96 hands in the vicinity of Saipan. The Japanese struck her from the Navy List on 10 August 1944.

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|last=Bagnasco |first=Erminio |title=Submarines of World War Two |year=1977 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=0-87021-962-6}}
• {{cite book|last1=Carpenter|first1=Dorr B.|last2=Polmar|first2=Norman|title=Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1904–1945|year=1986|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-396-6|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich, UK|year=1980|isbn=0-85177-146-7}}
• {{cite book| last = Jentschura| first = Hansgeorg| first2 = Dieter |last2=Jung|first3=Peter |last3=Mickel| year = 1977| title = Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945| publisher = United States Naval Institute| location = Annapolis, Maryland| isbn = 0-87021-893-X|name-list-style=amp}}

{{Kaidai type submarine}}

{{June 1944 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:I-184}}

Category:1942 ships

Category:Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal

Category:Kaidai-class submarines

Category:World War II submarines of Japan

Category:Maritime incidents in June 1944

Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea

Category:Ships sunk by US aircraft

Category:Japanese submarines lost during World War II

Category:Warships lost in combat with all hands

Category:Japanese submarines lost with all hands