Type B1 submarine#Type-B Mod.1

The Type B submarines were derived from the earlier KD6 sub-class of the {{sclass|Kaidai|submarine|4}} and were equipped with an aircraft to enhance their scouting ability. They displaced {{Convert|2589|LT|t|0|disp=flip}} surfaced and {{Convert|3654|LT|t|0|disp=flip}} submerged. The submarines were {{convert|108.7|m|ftin|sp=us}} long, had a beam of {{convert|9.3|m|ftin|sp=us}} and a draft of {{convert|5.1|m|ftin|sp=us}}. They had a diving depth of {{convert|100|m|ft|sp=us}}.Bagnasco, p. 189

For surface running, the boats were powered by two {{convert|6200|bhp|lk=in|0|adj=on}} diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a {{convert|1000|hp|0|adj=on}} electric motor. They could reach {{convert|23.6|kn|lk=in}} on the surface and {{convert|8|kn}} underwater.Chesneau, p. 200 On the surface, the B1s had a range of {{convert|14000|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|16|kn}}; submerged, they had a range of {{convert|96|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|3|kn}}.

The boats were armed with six internal bow {{convert|53.3|cm|in|1|abbr=on|sp=us}} torpedo tubes and carried a total of 17 torpedoes. They were also armed with a single 14 cm/40 11th Year Type naval gun deck gun and two single mounts for Type 96 25 mm AT/AA Gun anti-aircraft guns.Carpenter & Dorr, p. 102 In the Type Bs, the aircraft hangar was faired into the base of the conning tower. A single catapult was positioned on the forward deck. Late in the war, some of the submarines had their aircraft hangar removed, to replace it with an additional 14 cm gun. In 1944, I-36 and I-37 had their aircraft hangar and catapult removed so that they could carry four Kaiten manned torpedoes, with I-36 later being further modified to carry six.

The series was rather successful, especially at the beginning of the war.

• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-17||2}} shelled an oil field up the beach from Santa Barbara and damaged a pump house in Elwood in February 1942. She was sunk by the New Zealand trawler Tui and two US Navy aircraft off Noumea on 19 August 1943.
• On 15 September 1942 {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-19||2}} fired six torpedoes at the aircraft carrier USS Wasp, three of which hit the carrier and sank her. The three remaining torpedoes went on for several thousand meters and hit another carrier force,{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} damaging the battleship USS North Carolina and sinking the destroyer USS O'Brien. I-19 was sunk with depth charges by {{USS|Radford|DD-446|6}}{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/TheOfficialChronologyOfTheUSNavyInWorldWarII |title= The official chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II |chapter= Chapter V: 1943 |chapter-url= http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1943.html |first= Robert |last= Cressman |location= Annapolis, Maryland |publisher= Naval Institute Press |year= 2000 |isbn= 978-1-55750-149-3 |oclc= 41977179 |access-date= 2012-09-14 |url-access= registration }} on 25 November 1943.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-25||2}} conducted one of the few attacks on the continental United States in September 1942. A year later she was sunk by destroyer USS Patterson off the New Hebrides on 3 September 1943.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-26||2}} sank the US Army chartered merchant ship SS Cynthia Olson about 1,000 miles{{clarify|date=August 2017}} northeast of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, causing 35 fatalities. She also crippled the aircraft carrier {{USS|Saratoga|CV-3|6}} with one torpedo hit (out of six fired) on 31 August 1942. On 13 November 1942, she sank the cruiser USS Juneau. She was sunk off Leyte in October 1944.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-27||2}} Between June 1942 and February 1944, she sank several ships including: SS Iron Crown near Gabo Island, SS Fort Mumford and SS Montanan in the Indian Ocean, Liberty ship SS Sambridge, and the SS Khedive Ismail near the Maldives on February 12, 1944. Following her last success, she was sunk by escorting British warships.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-29||2}} was used to conduct personnel, gold, and technology exchanges with Germany during WW2. Her most famous Yanagi mission was the successful transfer on 26 April 1943 off the coast of Mozambique, Africa, and safe return to Japan from German U-180 with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, leader of the Indian Independence Movement and Indian National Army who was going from Berlin to Tokyo, and his Adjutant, Abid Hasan, while two Japanese naval officers sent to study U-boat construction and 2 tons of gold were transferred to U-180 as Japanese payment for German wartime technology. Both submarines returned safely to their bases.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-39||2}} on 12 September 1943, torpedoed the 205 ft fleet tug USS Navajo en route from Pago Pago towing a gas barge.

File:I-15.jpg

• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-15||2}} was sunk off San Cristobol on 2 November 1942 by destroyer {{USS|McCalla|DD-488|6}}.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-19||2}} was sunk by {{USS|Radford|DD-446|6}} 25 November 1943
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-21||2}} made her final report on 27 November 1943, off the Gilbert Islands, following which she was never heard from again.{{cite book | last = Boyd | first = Carl |author2=Akihiko Yoshida | title = The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II | publisher = Naval Institute Press | date = 2002 | isbn = 1-55750-015-0}} At least one source attributes her sinking to aircraft from escort carrier {{USS|Chenango|CVE-28|6}} on 29 November 1943.{{cite book|last1=Rohwer|first1=Jürgen|last2=Hümmelchen|first2=Gerhard|title=Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: the Naval History of World War Two|date=2005|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Md.|isbn=9781591141198|page=289|edition=3. rev.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TpDlFI453RcC}}
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-23||2}} was lost in February 1942, following a final report made from off Oahu.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-25||2}} was sunk by {{USS|Patterson|DD-392|6}} on 25 August 1943.{{cn|date=February 2023}}
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-27||2}} was sunk by the British destroyers {{HMS|Paladin|G69|6}} and {{HMS|Petard|G56|6}} off Addu Atoll on 12 February 1944 after it had sunk the troopship {{SS|Khedive Ismail||6}} with the loss of about 1,300 lives. She was first rammed by Paladin then torpedoed by Petard.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-28||2}} was sunk by submarine {{USS|Tautog|SS-199|6}} south of Truk on 17 May 1942.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-29||2}} was sunk by {{USS|Sawfish||6}} in Balintang Channel on 26 July 1944.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-30||2}} was the first Japanese submarine to reach Europe under the Yanagi missions, but she was sunk by a mine off Singapore on 13 October 1942.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-31||2}} was sunk by destroyers {{USS|Edwards|DD-619|6}} and {{USS|Frazier|DD-607|6}} off Attu on 12 May 1943.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-32||2}} was sunk by the destroyer escort {{USS|Manlove|DE-36|6}} and the subchaser {{USS|Canastota|PC-1135|6}} south of Wotje on 24 March 1944.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-33||2}} was lost during sea trials in the Inland Sea on 13 June 1944.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-34||2}} was sunk by submarine {{HMS|Taurus|P399|6}} off Penang on 13 November 1943.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-35||2}} was sunk by destroyers {{USS|Meade|DD-602|6}} and {{USS|Frazier|DD-607|6}} off Tarawa on 23 November 1943.[http://www.defence.gov.au/sydneyii/EXP/EXP.001.0065.pdf report of the sinking of I-35], Department of Defence (Australia), undated World War II, accessed 24 April 2010
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-37||2}} was sunk by destroyer escorts {{USS|Conklin|DE-439|6}} and {{USS|McCoy Reynolds|DE-440|6}} off Leyte on 19 November 1944.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-38||2}} was sunk by destroyer {{USS|Nicholas|DD-449|6}} near Yap on 12 November 1944.
• {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-39||2}} was sunk by destroyer {{USS|Boyd|DD-544|6}} in the Gilberts on 26 November 1943.

Altogether the Type B submarines (B1, B2, and B3 combined) are credited with sinking 56 merchant ships for a total of 372,730 tonnes, about 35% of all merchant shipping sunk by Japanese submarines during the war.

All B1 type submarines were lost during the conflict, except for {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-36||2}}, which was scuttled off Gotō Islands by the US Navy on 1 April 1946.

• Type B submarine

{{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=Boyd|first1=Carl|last2=Yoshida|first2=Akikiko|title=The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II|date=2002|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=1-55750-015-0|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{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=Hashimoto|first=Mochitsura|others=Colegrave, E.H.M. (translator)|title=Sunk: The Story of the Japanese Submarine Fleet 1942 – 1945|publisher=Cassell and Company|location=London|year=1954|id=ASIN B000QSM3L0}}
• {{cite book |last1=Milanovich |first1=Kathrin |editor1-last=Jordan |editor1-first=John |title=Warship 2021 |date=2021 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-1-4728-4779-9 |chapter=The IJN Submarines of the I 15 Class|pages=29–43}}
• {{cite book|last=Stille|first=Mark|title=Imperial Japanese Navy Submarines 1941-45| series =New Vanguard|volume=135|year=2007|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Botley, Oxford, UK|isbn=978-1-84603-090-1}}

{{B1 type submarine}}

{{Imperial Japanese Navy}}

Category:Submarine aircraft carriers

Category:Submarine classes