Japanese submarine I-7

I-7 was a J3 type submarine built by Kawasaki, Kobe, for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the 1930s. She was a large cruiser submarine that entered service in 1935 and served in World War II. She operated in support of the attack on Pearl Harbor, conducted anti-shipping patrols in the Indian Ocean, supported the Indian Ocean raid, and took part in the Guadalcanal campaign and the Aleutian Islands campaign. She was wrecked in the Aleutian Islands after a lengthy battle with the destroyer USS Monaghan (DD-354) in June 1943..

I-7 on her commissioning day, 31 March 1937.
History
Imperial Japanese Navy
Name: I-7
Ordered: 1934
Builder: Kure Navy Yard, Kure, Japan
Laid down: 12 September 1934
Launched: 3 July 1935
Completed: 31 March 1937
Commissioned: 31 March 1937
Fate: Wrecked 22 June 1943
Stricken: 20 August 1943
General characteristics
Class and type: J3 type submarine
Displacement:
  • 2,231 tons (surfaced)
  • 3,583 tons(submerged)
Length: 109.30 m (358 ft 7 in)
Beam: 9.10 m (29 ft 10 in)
Draft: 5.26 m (17 ft 3 in)
Depth: 7.70 m (25 ft 3 in)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × Kampon Mk.1A Model 10 diesel engines, 11,200 bhp (9,472 Kw)
  • Two electric motors, 2,800 shp (2,368 Kw)
  • Two shafts
Speed:
  • 23 kn (43 km/h; 26 mph) (surfaced)
  • 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) (submerged)
Range:
  • 14,000 nmi (26,000 km; 16,000 mi) at 16 kn (30 km/h; 18 mph) (surfaced)
  • 80 nmi (150 km; 92 mi) at 3 kn (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph) (submerged)
Test depth: 100 m (328 ft)
Complement: 100 officers and men
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 1 x Watanabe E9W1
Aviation facilities: Hangar, catapult

Aftermath

The Japanese completed the evacuation of Kiska on 28 July 1943, and on 15 August 1943 the Allies invaded the undefended island in Operation Cottage.[3] On 26 August 1943, the U.S. Navy fleet tug USS Ute (ATF-76) arrived to investigate I-7′s wreck.[3] Her divers found I-7′s wreck lying on its port side in 60 feet (18 m) of water.[3] Although the conning tower was damaged, I-7′s number was visible on a tarpaulin on the conning tower′s side.[3]

On 7 September 1943, the U.S. Navy submarine rescue ship USS Florikan (ASR-9) arrived and began diving operations on the wreck that lasted for a month.[3] By the time the operations concluded in October 1943, seven divers had entered I-7′s wreck and recovered valuable intelligence documents from it.[3]

References

Footnotes
  1. Boyd and Yoshida, p. 22.
  2. Boyd and Yoshida, p. 23.
  3. Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2017). "IJN Submarine I-7: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  4. wrecksite.eu SS Arcata (+1942)
  5. Boyd and Yoshida, pp. 118–119.
  6. Boyd and Yoshida, p. 119.

Bibliography
  • Boyd, Carl, and Akihiko Yoshida. The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1995. ISBN 1-55750-015-0.


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