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.
Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy
The submarines were double-hulled medium sized submarines. They were derived from the (KT or K5 type, "Ro-29"-class). Several variants existed. From 1934 to 1944, the (K6 type, "Ro-33"-class) and the (K7 type, "Ro-35"-class) were built. The K6 type was equipped with a 3.25 inch (80 mm) gun and Type 95 Long Lance torpedoes. Twenty units were built: , , "Ro-35", "Ro-36, Ro-37", "Ro-38", "Ro-39", "Ro-40", "Ro-41", "Ro-42", "Ro-43", "Ro-44", , "Ro-46", "Ro-47", "Ro-48", "Ro-49", "Ro-50", "Ro-55", "Ro-56".