I-19 or Iku was third of the the twenty Type-B1 Submarines (AKA I-15 series). She was built under the 3rd Naval Armaments Supplement Program (Circle 3 Program) of 1937. She was laid down as Submarine No. 39 at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kobe on March 15, 1938, she was launched on September 16, 1939, she was commissioned on April 28, 1941 and was renamed Submarine I-19. She has 2,584 tons surfaced displacement and 3,654 tons submerged displacement, she is equipped with two Kampon 10 inch diesel engines capable of producing 12,400 horsepower when surfaced and 2,000 horsepower when submerged, her speed is at 23.5 knots when surfaced and 8 knots when submerged, her maximum depth is 100 meters below sea-level. She's armed with six 533mm (21-inch) torpedo tubes, two 25mm Type-96 auto-cannons and one single 14cm 40 cal. 11th Year Type naval gun and carries 17 Type-95 submarine torpedoes. She carries a Watanabe E9W1 Type 96 floatplane, then a Yokosuka E14Y seaplane afterwards, she could launched her floatplane on forward aircraft catapult like the rest of her sisters.
Upon commissioning, she was attached at the Yokosuka Naval District, then she was assigned to the SubDiv 2, part of the SubRon 1, 6th Fleet, together with I-18 and I-20. During the initial preparation for the Plan Z (Attack on Pearl Harbor), she was assigned as the flagship of the SubDiv 2. On November 20, 1941, she leaded the Submarine Advance Group under the command of Captain Imaizumi, which is subordinated by the 1st Air Fleet, she departed Yokosuka to patrol the Hawaiian Islands, she arrived at Hitokappu Bay, Etorofu on November 23, 1941. Three days passed, she departed Etorofu to lead a patrol unit with I-21 and I-23, she was assigned to patrol ahead the Kido Butai.
During the attack of Pearl Harbor, the Advance Group served as navigation aid for the crippled Japanese Aircraft returning to their based carriers. After the attack, the submarines were detached from the Kido Butai afterwards and were deployed to patrol the area 300 nautical miles east of Maui. On December 9, 1941, submarine I-6 spotted a Lexington-Class carrier and two cruisers off Oahu heading east northeast, I-19 together with the rest of the submarines in the area proceed to pursuit the Carrier. On the next day I-19 was attacked by carrier-based aircraft but sustained no damage. On December 14, 1941, the submarines failed to pursuit the carrier, I-19 together with I-10 and I-26 were ordered to proceed within the West Coast of America and attack American Shipping.
She was assigned to 30 shells within the US West Coast grounds on the night of December 25, 1941, together with other 8 submarines, she was appointed to lead the assault. On December 22, 1941, she fires one torpedo at an unescorted merchant ship Panama Express but misses, she wasn't able to catch up with the merchant ship afterwards. On the next day, she chased an oil tanker H. M. Storey, she fired three torpedoes but all missed, the H. M. Storey managed to escape afterwards, several moments later, Admiral Yamamoto cancelled the Christmas Eve attack and rescheduled it to December 27, 1941. On December 24, 1942, she attacked a lumber schooner Barbara Olson, she fired one torpedo but misses her target, the explosion was observed by the USN Submarine-chaser USS Amethyst PYC-3, then moments later she attacked another lumber-carrier ship Absaroka, she fired two torpedoes, the first torpedo missed the target but the second torpedo crippled Absaroka, then she attacked by USS Amethyst and several bomber aircraft, I-19 managed to escape afterwards while Absaroka remained afloat by her cargo and was beached afterwards. On December 27, 1941, the attack on the West Coast was once again cancelled due to most the submarines reserved fuel are depleted.
On the night of January 4, 1942, she was assigned to launched a floatplane for reconnaissance over Pearl Harbor but her catapults malfunctioned, then she was spotted by USN patrols. She managed to lunched her floatplane and dive to avoid enemy contact simultaneously, 2 hours and 40 minutes later, her floatplane returned and spotted a carrier, nine cruisers, and six smaller warships stationed within Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1942, she was attacked twice by Consolidated PBY seaplanes, and another attack from the seaplanes on the next day. She arrived at Kwajalein on January 15, 1942. On February 1, 1942, Kwajalein and Wotje were raided by USS Enterprise CV-6 from Task Force 8, I-19 together with 6 SubRon 1 subarines were ordered to intercept the carrier, Enterprise managed to escape safely. On February 20, 1942, she was called on her second war patrol to intercept Task Force 11 off Rabaul.
On March 4, 1942, she participated for the Operation K, their objective is to bomb Ten-Ten Dock within Pearl Harbor using Kawanishi H8K flying boats to disrupt ship repair activities, together with I-15, I-26, I-9 and I-23, I-19, I-15, and I-26 were fitted with six fuel tanks each to store aviation fuels. They would refuel the flying boat during the operation while the two other submarines will patrol the area. Though the flying boats managed to caused several damage, they failed to bomb their primary objective, the resulted operation to an ultimately inconclusive. She returned to Marshall Islands afterwards.
On March 21, 1942, she arrived at Yokosuka, she was docked afterwards. During the Doolittle Raid on April 18, 1942, B-25 medium bombers from USS Hornet CV-8 of Task Force 16.2 bombed Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya and Kobe, I-19 was in drydock at Yokosuka during the attack. On May 15, 1942, she departed from Yokosuka for Ominato together with I-17, she departed from Ominato afterwards. On May 20, 1942, she was assigned to the Northern Force, she scouted Nikolski Bay to search of US military instillation, several hours later, she was ordered to launched her floatplane for reconnaissance, then she sighted an American destroyer nearby, she crash dived, her E9W1 floatplane was lost during the crash dive. On May 29, 1942, she conducted submerged reconnaissance of Dutch Harbor, she conducted another reconnaissance on the next day, then proceeds to Unalaska-Umnak area afterwards. On June of 1942, she was assigned to patrol Makushin Bay and Otter Point, then she departed on June 29, 1942, she was reassigned to the Advance Force, on July 7, 1942, she returned to Yokosuka, she was drydocked for repairs afterwards.
On August 15, 1942, she departed from Yokosuka to Solomon Islands for her fourth war patrol with a new E14Y floatplane. On August 23, 1942, I-19 together with several submarines entered enemy controlled waters, they were ordered to attack support and capital ships. She was spotted by an aircraft from scouting squadron VS-5, the aircraft attack I-19 but sustained no visible damage. During the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on August 24, 1942, she begins her her regular underwater patrol. On August 25, 1942, she sighted a Task Force consisted of an aircraft carrier, a battleship, a cruiser and several destroyers, 200 nautical miles southeast of Guadalcanal, the carrier was USS Wasp CV-7, the Task Group was heading northward, I-19 failed to gain an attacking position to intercept the Task Group. On August 28, 1942, she launched her floatplane for reconnaissance, her plane spotted a destroyer and six flying boats. On August 31, 1942, she shelled Graciosa Bay for ten minutes.
On September 15, 1942, she spotted a carrier, a heavy cruiser and several destroyers from Task Force 17 at 10:50, she slowly approached the Task Force, the Task Force was zigzagging at speed of 16 knots, the Task Force changed its course west northwest, then at 11:20, they changed again for South Southeast. At 11:45, I-19 fired a spread of 6 torpedoes, three torpedoes hit Wasp, which started an uncontrollable fire, the carrier was scuttled afterwards. Then at 11:52, one of her torpedoes hit battleship USS North Carolina, the blast holes the battleship's side protection below the armor belt, North Carolina was put out of commissioned for 6 months because of this damage. Then at 11:54, one of her torpedoes hit the destroyer USS O'Brien DD-415, O'Brien sunk afterwards. I-19 was hunted by the destroyers within the area, the destroyers surrounded her and dropped a total of 30 depth charges to finished her off, I-19 quickly dives at more than 80 meters deep and managed to escape amidst the fight. On September 20, 1942, she departed on her patrol area and headed for Truk, she arrived at Truk on September 25, 1942.
On October 5, 1942, she departed Truk for New Caledonia area for her fifth war patrol, she patrolled areas between Noumea and New Caledonia until November 12, 1942. On November 16, 1942, she was assigned to her first Tokyo Express run, she carried supplies for the troops in Guadalcanal, she departed from November 22, 1942 from Shortland Islands, together with I-17 and arrived at Guadalcanal on November 24, 1942, the unloading of supplies was soon aborted due to an air attack. She returned to Shortland Islands and departed for Truk afterwards. On December 22, 1942, she delivered her cargo using floating rubber containers, she arrived at Shortland on December 25, 1941. On the next day, she was assigned to her second Tokyo Express run to Guadalcanal, she departed from Shortland and arrived off Kamimbo on December 30, 1942, she delivered 25 tons of cargo, she returned to Shortland afterwards.
On January 2, 1943, she departed again from Shortland for her third Tokyo Express run to Guadalcanal, she arrived at Guadalcanal on January 4, 1943 and delivered 15 tons of cargo, she returned to Shortland afterwards. Then on January 7, 1943, she was assigned to her fourth and final Tokyo Express run to Guadalcanal, she arrived at Guadalcanal on January 9, 1943 and delivered 12 tons of cargo, she returned to Shortland afterwards. On January 13, 1943, she departed from Shortland for Truk, then she departed from Truk to Yokosuka, she arrived at Yokosuka on January 25, 1943 for an overhaul.
On March 24, 1943, she departed from Yokosuka for Truk and on April 4, 1943 she proceed for her sixth war patrol within New Hebrides and Fiji Islands. Then on April 29, 1943, she attacked liberty ship Peter Silvester southeast of Efate, New Hebrides, two torpedoes passed beneath the liberty ship and exploded without causing any damage, Peter Silvester managed to escape. On April 30, 1943, she chased liberty ship Phoebe A. Hearst off Suva, Fiji Islands, the chase lasted for three hours, I-19 managed to sank the liberty ship afterwards. On May 2, 1943, she attacked and damaged the American freighter William Williams. On May 16, 1943, she attacked and sank the American freighter William K. Vanderbilt, then she surfaced and machine-gunned the lifeboats, one was killed. She returned to Truk on June 6, 1943, she was reassigned to the 1st Submarine Group.
On July 4, 1943, she departed from Truk for her seventh war patrol within New Hebrides and Fiji Islands, during her patrols, she observed a group consisted of one carrier and two heavy cruisers within Luganville harbor, then she scouted Nandi Bay and Lauthala Bay and observed several carriers and battleships anchored within the area. On August 13, 1943, she attacked and badly damaged the liberty ship M. H. DeYoung, the liberty ship was declared damage beyond repair afterwards. She returned to Truk on September 9, 1943.
On October 17, 1943, she departed from Truk for her eight war patrol within Wake Islands, she arrived at Kwajalein and practiced floatplane launching. On October 20, 1943, a report that a large Allied convoy spotted south of the Hawaiian Islands headed west, I-19 together with other four submarines were ordered to intercept the convoy. She departed from Kwajalein on October 23, 1943. On November 17, 1943, she lunched her floatplane over Pearl Harbor, the floatplane reported a presence of a battleship and a carrier within the area, the floatplane was scuttled afterwards to avoid detection.
On November 20, 1943, she ordered to proceed to Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, together with other eight submarines, two days later, I-19 failed to acknowledge the receipt of the message from the 6th Fleet. Three days later, at 20:49, she was detected under radar by USS Radford DD-446, I-19 immediately submerged to avoid further detection but she made sonar contact with Radford, the destroyer makes seven depth charge attacks at the submarine and lost contact with the submarine.
I-19 was lost on November 25, 1943, 50 miles west of Makin Islands, she was presumed lost with 105 casualties on February 2, 1944. In her whole career, she sortied for a total of 14 times and conducted a total of 8 war patrols, she put 3 merchant ships out of commission with 21,533 combine tonnage and damaged other two merchant ships with 12,876 combine tonnage. She sank 2 warships with 16,464 combined tonnage and damaged one battleship with 37,484 tonnage. Overall she sank 5 ships with 37,997 total tonnage and damaged 3 ships with 50,360 total tonnage.
That's a very "brief" history you gave... Thank you nonetheless.
The 19th I-gou submarine is Japanese Navy's Type B1 cruiser submarine. They're also called I-15 class submarine after the first ship of their class. I-19, the third ship, is launched on September 16th 1939 and commisioned on April 28th 1941.At 11:45 and distance of 900 m, USS Wasp heads upwind to prepare for landing of her returning scout plane. As her speed drops, I-19 launched 6 oxygen torpedoes. Among these, 3 hits on the mark. The fuel on Wasp catches fire and causing chain explosion as it reached the ammunitions. Finally Wasp is scuttled by allied destroyers.Story about life in submarine wouldn't fit in this article. But the Japanese movie "Gouchin Indo-you Sensuikan Sakusen Kiroku" featured important video documentation about life in I-19's sister ship, the 37th ship of I-gou submarines (but the number is I-10).And that's why I enjoy drawing her. But leaving her as flagship in medium~heavy damage is not safe.The other three torpedoes keep cruising for 10,000 metres until they reached Task Force 17. Both the battleship North Carolina and destroyer O'Brien are hit each by one torpedo. O'Brien is heavily damaged and finally breaks in half on October 19th because of that damage. North Carolina is out of the war for 6 months for repairs.After that event, I-19 is assigned to raiding operation around Truk and sunk merchant ships. But on November 25th 1943, she's sunk by depth charges from USS Radford.Ehehehehe~ Type B submarines alone accounts for 42% of the sinking of merchant ships during the warAs illustrated here, submarines of WW2 can't stay underwater for long period like modern submarines.Japanese submarine in general can be classified into two groups. First is the high speed Kaidai class. The other is the Junsen that's made for long operational range.
But after Japan renounced the naval treaty in 1936, they start building submarine to be part of their main battle force. Japanese Navy developed submarine based on the cruiser submarine with increased speed, effectively combining the strength of the Kaidai and Junsen.
These submarines are then called Type A, B and C.First of all, her greatest achievement in war is when she damaged and sunk three ships in one torpedo salvo. This happened in September 15th 1942 when I-19 (captain: Kinashi Takakazu) in the Guadalcanal Island campaign, detected the aircraft carrier USS Wasp, one cruiser and numerous destroyers at 15,000 metres.If all the cruiser submarines (including Type B2 and B3) were featured... we would have 20 sisters!. This is as much as the Toku-gata (Fubuki class destroyer).
Moreover, I-19's displacement is 2,198 tonnes, while the upper limit specified in London Naval Treaty is 2,000 tonnes. So yes, she's big.
I'm sure there's a lot of Admirals who still can't forget the shock when they first time got her.
"This... this is... NICE!"