Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy
The IJN submarine arm did have a number of notable successes against American warships, however. During the Battle of Midway, administered the final "coup de grace" that sank the fleet carrier , as well as sinking the destroyer . A few months later, on September 15, 1942, with a single salvo of torpedoes, Japanese submarine sank the fleet carrier and damaged both the battleship and the destroyer . On November 13, 1942, the submarine torpedoed and sank the anti-aircraft cruiser , and a year later on November 23, 1943 the submarine torpedoed and sank the escort carrier , both with heavy loss of life. The had the distinction of both severely damaging the heavy cruiser , knocking her out of the war for a year, on October 20, 1942, and of also sinking (the only American submarine to be sunk by a Japanese submarine in the entire war) on November 16, 1943.
History of submarines
On 14 June 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) placed an order for five Holland "Type VII submersibles", which were built in Quincy, Massachusetts at the "Fore River Yard", and shipped to Yokohama, Japan in sections. The five machines arrived on 12 December 1904. Under the supervision of naval architect Arthur L. Busch, the imported "Hollands" were re-assembled, and the first submersibles were ready for combat operations by August 1905, but hostilities were nearing the end by that date, and no submarines saw action during the war.