Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy
The ("I-15"-class) submarines (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ) were the most numerous type of submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. In total 20 were made, starting with "I-15", the class ship. These were fast, very long ranged, and carried a single Yokosuka E14Y seaplane, located in a hangar in front of the conning tower, launched by a catapult.
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".