Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) submarines formed by far the most varied fleet of submarines of World War II, including manned torpedoes ("Kaiten"), midget submarines ("Kō-hyōteki", ), medium-range submarines, purpose-built supply submarines (many used by the Imperial Japanese Army, see Type 3), fleet submarines (many of which carried an aircraft), submarines with the highest submerged speeds of the conflict ("Sentaka" ), and submarines able to carry multiple bombers (World War II's largest submarine, the Sentoku ). They were also equipped with the most advanced torpedo of the conflict, the oxygen-fuelled Type 95 (which are sometimes confused with the famed Type 93 Long Lance torpedo).
Japanese submarine I-22 (1938)
The boats were armed with eight internal bow torpedo tubes and carried a total of 20 torpedoes. They were also armed with a single /40 deck gun and two single or twin mounts for Type 96 anti-aircraft guns. They were equipped to carry one Type A midget submarine aft of the conning tower.
"I-22" was commissioned at Yokosuka, Japan on March 10, 1941. The submarine participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Coral Sea, and the attack on Sydney Harbour in May and June 1942. "I-22" disappeared while on patrol near Malaita in the Solomon Islands on or around October 4, 1942 and was presumed lost with all 100 hands.