Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy submarines originated with the purchase of five Holland type submarines from the United States in 1904. Japanese submarine forces progressively built up strength and expertise, becoming by the beginning of World War II one of the world's most varied and powerful submarine fleets.
Japanese submarine I-124
The submarine was the fourth Japanese submarine lost in action in World War II. It has been surrounded in controversy since it was lost. In World War II there were claims that two submarines had been lost in the attack on Darwin; that its crew remained alive for some time; and that divers heard crew movement inside the hull. Later it was reported by both Japanese and American sources that "the "I 124" with her Division Commander Keiyu Endo, embarked, sank with all those on board in water only forty feet deep. US Navy divers were sent down and entered the submarine, and removed naval code books, a godsend for the Navy codebreakers at Pearl Harbor". However, this was later disproved by historian Dr Tom Lewis, in his book "Sensuikan I-124"; later re-published as "Darwin's Submarine I-124".