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Japan operated 174 submarines throughout
World War Two. They had constructed many
different designs, some of which were the
most advanced in the world at that time.
Their submarines had the longest range,
were the fastest and used the most
advanced torpedoes. Japan also built
three large 5,000-ton, 400 feet long, Sen
Toku class submarines that were capable
of carrying three aircraft. These
submarines were designed to carry out
bombing raids on the Panama Canal locks,
although none managed to complete that
task. I-58 was one of three
B(3) type submarines with a range of
21,000 miles, could dive to 330 feet and
carried 101crew.
I-58’s success in
sinking the US heavy cruiser
Indianapolis July 30th 1945 saw
her become Japans most recognized
submarine. Soon after the attack on
Indianapolis, I-58 was
fitted with Kaiten manned torpedoes that
were 48 feet long, 3 feet in diameter and
had a 3,400 lb TNT warhead. On August
12th 1945, I-58
launched the kamikaze Kaiten torpedoes at
the US landing ship Oak
Hill. Fortunately for Oak
Hill and other Allied ships, they
were not as successful as the Japanese
had intended and few found their targets.
Japanese submarines were mainly used to
attack US warships and carry supplies to
Japanese forces on the Pacific islands.
As a result, they only managed to sink
184 merchant ships totaling 907,000 tons.
Their success against warships was 2 US
aircraft carriers, 2 cruisers and 10
destroyers. Although over 120 Japanese
submarines were lost during the war, all
three B (3) and Sen Toku type survived.
US forces disposed of I-58 by
scuttling her off Goto/Japan April 1st
1946.
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