Submarine aircraft carriers of Japan


Submarine aircraft carriers were developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy to a greater extent than any other navy, before and during World War II. In total, 42 were built, as listed below. Although other navies had experimented with submarine aircraft carriers, by World War II the IJN was the only navy using them. They had little effect on the war, although two were used to carry out attacks on the continental United States.
They all carried floatplanes, with some carrying two or three floatplanes. All apart from the first had a fixed catapult and hangar or hangars, generally on the forward deck.

List of submarine carriers

See Japanese submarine I-8 and I-400 class submarine.
  1. I-5; Type J1M scouting submarine: One built..
  2. I-6; Type J2 scouting submarine: One built.
  3. I-7 and I-8; Type J3 scouting submarine:Two built..
  4. I-9, I-10, I-11; Type A1 headquarters submarines: Three built..
  5. I-12; Type A2 headquarters submarine: One built..
  6. I-13, I-14; Type AM aircraft carrying submarine: Two built..
  7. Type B1 scouting submarine; numbered I-15 through I-39: Twenty built.. Japanese submarine I-25 launched the only plane than made an aerial bombing of the USA in wartime.
  8. Type B2 scouting submarine; numbered I-40 through I-45, Six built..
  9. I-54, I-56, I-58; Type B3/B4 scouting submarine: Three built. I-58 had aircraft and catapult replaced by Kaiten.
  10. I-400, I-401, I-402; I-400-class submarine: Three built..