The second I-22 was one of five Type C cruiser submarines of the C1 sub-class built of the Imperial Japanese Navy. During World War II, she operated as the mother ship for a midget submarine during the attack on Pearl Harbor and the attack on Sydney Harbour, supported Japanese forces during the Battle of the Coral Sea, and served in the Guadalcanal campaign. She was sunk in October 1942.
Design and description
The Type C submarines were derived from the earlier KD6 sub-class of the with a heavier torpedo armament for long-range attacks. They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of . They had a diving depth of .
For surface running, the boats were powered by two diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the C1s had a range of at ; submerged, they had a range of at .
The boats were armed with eight internal bow torpedo tubes and carried a total of 20 torpedoes. They were also armed with a single /40 deck gun and two single or twin mounts for Type 96 anti-aircraft guns. They were equipped to carry one Type A midget submarine aft of the conning tower.
Construction and commissioning
Ordered under the 3rd Naval Armaments Supplement Programme and built by Kawasaki at Kobe, Japan, I-22 was laid down on 25 November 1937 with the name Submarine No. 47. While she was on the building ways, she was renamed I-22, the second submarine of that number, the first I-22 being renumbered on 1 June 1938 to make the number I-22 available for her. She was launched on 23 December 1938 and was completed and commissioned on 10 March 1941.
Service history
Pre-World War II
Upon commissioning, I-22 was attached to the Yokosuka Naval District and assigned to the Yokosuka Guard Unit Training Squadron. She was reassigned to Submarine Division 3 in Submarine Squadron 1 in the 6th Fleet on 15 July 1941.
On 22 October 1941, I-22 moved from Saeki to the Kure Naval Arsenal in Kure. At Kure, she became the first submarine to undergo conversion into a mother ship for a Type A midget submarine. The submarines , , , and also underwent the conversion. On 30 October 1941, I-22 replaced the submarine as flagship of Submarine Division 3.
At the Kure Navy Club in Kure on 17 November 1941, the commander of Submarine Division 3 briefed the commanding officers of the five converted submarines on the upcoming attack on Pearl Harbor and on the role of their submarines in it. He had been designated the commander of the Special Attack Unit, made up of all five submarines, each of which was to launch a Type A midget submarine off Pearl Harbor so that the midget submarines could participate in the attack. I-22 was to serve as flagship of the Special Attack unit.
On 18 November 1941, the five submarines moved from Kure to the Kamegakubi Naval Proving Ground, where each embarked a Type A midget submarine. At 02:15 on 19 November 1941, the five submarines got underway from Kamegakubi bound for the Hawaiian Islands, taking a direct route that took them south of Midway Atoll. While at sea, they received the message "Climb Mount Niitaka 1208" () from the Combined Fleet on 2 December 1941, indicating that war with the Allies would commence on 8 December 1941 Japan time, which was on 7 December 1941 on the other side of the International Date Line in Hawaii.
World War II
Pearl Harbor
At 01:10 on 7 December 1941, I-22 reached the launch position for her midget submarine, No. 15, south of the entrance to Pearl Harbor. She launched No. 15 at 01:16. She sighted the silhouettes of two ships resembling heavy cruisers at 02:00 and submerged. She heard a heavy explosion at 07:12, followed by a second at 07:13 and a third at 08:18.