The boom extended out to a length of 11.8 m (39 ft). It was raised mechanically to a height of 8 m (26 ft) via a motor inside the boat. The crane had an electrically operated hoist and was capable of lifting approximately 4.5 t (5.0 short tons). Stowed in an open recessed compartment on the forward port side, just below top deck, was a collapsible crane used to retrieve the submarine's Seiran floatplanes. Įight torpedo tubes were mounted in the bow, four above and four below. One Type 11, 140 mm (5.5 in) deck gun was positioned aft of the hangar. A single 25 mm (1 in) autocannon on a pedestal mount was also located just aft the bridge. Situated atop the hangar were three waterproofed Type 96 triple-mount 25 mm (1 in) autocannon for AA defence, two aft and one forward of the conning tower. The door was made waterproof with a 51-millimetre-thick (2.0 in) rubber gasket. The outer access door could be opened hydraulically from within or manually from the outside by turning a large hand-wheel connected to a rack and spur gear. Located approximately amidships on the top deck was a cylindrical watertight aircraft hangar, 31 m (102 ft) long and 3.5 m (11 ft) in diameter. To allow stowage of three aircraft along the vessel's centreline, the conning tower was offset to port. The cross-section of its pressure hull had a unique figure-of-eight shape which afforded the necessary strength and stability to handle the weight of a large on-deck aircraft hangar. ![]() Measuring more than 120 m (390 ft) long overall, they displaced 5,900 t (6,500 short tons), more than double their typical American contemporaries. Design features and equipment Deck plan and section profile of the type I-400 submarineĮach submarine had four 1,680 kW (2,250 hp) engines and carried enough fuel to go around the world one-and-a-half times-more than enough to reach the United States travelling east or west. Only I-400 and I-401 actually entered service I-402 was completed on 24 July 1945, five weeks before the end of the war, but never made it to sea. įollowing Yamamoto's death in April 1943, the number of aircraft-carrying submarines to be built was reduced from eighteen to nine, then five and finally three. Construction of I-400 commenced at Kure Dock Yards on 18 January 1943, and four more boats followed: I-401 (April 1943) and I-402 (Oct 1943) at Sasebo I-403 (Sept 1943) at Kobe and I-404 (February 1944) at Kure. By 17 March, general design plans for the submarines were finalized. They also had to be able to store and launch at least two attack aircraft armed with one torpedo or 800 kg (1,800 lb) bomb. It called for 18 large submarines capable of making three round-trips to the west coast of the United States without refueling or one round-trip to any point on the globe. Yamamoto submitted the resulting proposal to Fleet Headquarters on 13 January 1942. He commissioned Captain Kameto Kuroshima to make a feasibility study. western and eastern seaboards using submarine-launched naval aircraft. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he conceived the idea of taking the war to the United States mainland by making aerial attacks against cities along the U.S. The I-400 class was the brainchild of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet. Within a year the plan was scaled back to five, of which only three ( I-400 at Kure, and I-401 and I-402 at Sasebo) were completed. A fleet of 18 boats was planned in 1942, and work started on the first in January 1943 at the Kure, Hiroshima arsenal. The I-400 class was designed with the range to travel anywhere in the world and return. They also carried torpedoes for close-range combat. They were designed to surface, launch their planes, then quickly dive again before they were discovered. They were submarine aircraft carriers able to carry three Aichi M6A Seiran aircraft underwater to their destinations. The type name was shortened to Toku-gata Sensuikan ( 特型 潜水艦, Special Type Submarine). ![]() The IJN called this type of submarine Sentoku type submarine ( 潜特型潜水艦, Sen-Toku-gata sensuikan, Submarine Special ). The I-400-class submarine ( 伊四百型潜水艦, I-yon-hyaku-gata sensuikan) Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) submarines were the largest submarines of World War II and remained the largest ever built until the construction of nuclear ballistic missile submarines in the 1960s.
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