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I-400 class submarine - Definition and Overview |
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I-400.jpg
I-400, with plane hangar and forward catapult.
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| Career
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| Ships:
| I-400, I-401, I-402
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| Completed:
| 1944-45
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| Decommissioned:
| 1945
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| Fate:
| Scuttled in the Pacific (1946)
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| General Characteristics
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| Displacement:
| 5,223 tons / 6,560 tons
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| Dimensions:
| 400.3 ft x 39.3 ft x 23 ft
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| Surface propulsion:
| 4 diesels: 7,700 hp
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| Submerged propulsion:
| Electric motors: 2,400 hp
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| Surface speed:
| 18.75 knots
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| Submerged speed:
| 6.5 knots
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| Maximum depth:
| 100 m (330 feet)
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| Range:
| 37,500 nm at 14 knots
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| Complement:
| 144
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| Armament:
| 3 Aichi M6A1 Seiran sea-planes
8x533mm Fwd torpedo tubes
1x14cm/50 cal. gun
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The I-400 class (イ-400) submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy were the largest submarines of WW2. It was a submersible aircraft carrier and it was able to carry 3 Aichi M6A Seiran aircraft underwater to their destinations. It also carried torpedoes for close range combat and was designed to surface, launch the planes then dive again quickly before they were discovered.
The I-400 was originally designed so that it could travel round-trip to anywhere in the world, and it was specifically intended to destroy the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal.
A fleet of 18 boats was planned in 1942, and work on the first one was started in January 1943 at the Kure, Hiroshima arsenal. Within a year the plan was scaled back to five, and only three (the I-400 at Kure, and the I-401 and I-402 at Sasebo) were completed.
External Link
- About I-400 (http://www.combinedfleet.com/sen_toku.htm)
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