C3 type submarine

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C3 type submarine I-55
Career RN Ensign
Construction: 1943-1944
Units: 3 unit (I-52, I53, I55)
General Characteristics
Displacement: 2,564 tons / 3,644 tons
Dimensions: 356.5 ft x 30.5 ft x 16.75 ft
Surface propulsion: 2 diesels: 4,700 hp
Submerged propulsion: electric motors: 1,200 hp
Surface speed: 17.75 knots
Submerged speed: 6.5 knots
Maximum depth: 100 m (330 ft)
Range: 21,000 nautical miles at 16 knots
Complement: 94 officers and men
Armament: 6 x 533 mm forward torpedo tubes

19 Long Lance torpedoes
2 x 140 mm 50 calibre gun

C3 type submarines were submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy, designed and built by Mitsubishi Corporation, between 1943 and 1944, as cargo carriers. They were quite long and carried a crew of up to 94 persons. They also had a long cruising range at a speed of 12 knots.

The Japanese constructed only three of these submarines during World War II (I-52, I-53 and I-55), although twenty were planned [1]. They were among the largest submarines ever built at that time, and were known as the most advanced submarines of the period.

  • I-52 was laid on 18 March 1942, and she was commissioned on 28 December 1943 into the 11th submarine squadron. After training in Japan she was selected for a Yanagi (exchange) mission to Germany. She was sunk on 24 June 1944 by aircraft from USS Bogue 800 miles southwest of the Azores. Her cargo consisted of rubber, gold, quinine, and Japanese engineers to Germany.
  • I-53 survived the war, but she was scuttled by the US Navy off Goto Island in 1946.
  • I-55 was sunk after three months in commission by destroyer escorts USS Gilmer and the USS William C. Miller off Saipan on 14 July, 1944.
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