Japanese submarine I-19

I-19 in 1943
History
Japan
Name	I-19
Builder	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kobe
Laid down	15 March 1938
Launched	16 September 1939
Completed	28 April 1941
Stricken	1 April 1944
Fate	Depth charged and sunk 25 November 1943 by USS Radford.
General characteristics
Class and type	Type B1 submarine
Displacement	2,584 tons surfaced 3,654 tons submerged
Length	108.7 m (357 ft)
Beam	9.3 m (31 ft)
Draught	5.14 m (16.9 ft)
Propulsion	2 diesels: 12,400 hp (9,250 kW) Electric motors: 2,000 hp (1,500 kW)
Speed	23.5 knots (44 km/h) surfaced 8 knots (15 km/h) submerged
Range	14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h)
Test depth	100 m (330 ft)
Complement	94 officers and men
Armament	6 × 533 mm forward torpedo tubes 17 torpedoes 1 × 14 cm/40 11th Year Type naval gun
Aircraft carried	1 Yokosuka E14Y floatplane
Service record
Part of:	Submarine Division 1, Yokosuka Naval District 15 November 1939 – 15 November 1940 Submarine Division 2, 6th Fleet 15 November 1940 – 25 November 1943
Commanders:	Kaigun-chūsa Shogo Narahara 28 April 1941 – 15 July 1942 Kaigun-chūsa Takakazu Kinashi 15 July 1942 – 27 September 1943 Kaigun-shōsa Shigeo Kobayashi 27 September – 25 November 1943
Victories:	2 warships sunk (16,464 GRT) 1 warship damaged (37,484 GRT) 3 merchant ships sunk (21,533 GRT) 2 merchant ships damaged (12,876 GRT)

I-19 was a Japanese Type B1 submarine which damaged and destroyed several enemy ships during World War II while serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy. During the Guadalcanal Campaign, with a single torpedo salvo, the submarine sank the aircraft carrier USS Wasp and the destroyer USS O'Brien and damaged the battleship USS North Carolina.

Service history

Attacks off California

I-19 attacked the SS H.M. Storey as she was bringing oil to Los Angeles on 22 December 1941, chasing the ship for an hour. Two miles off Point Arguello California, 55 miles north of Santa Barbara, the captain of I-19, Narahara, fired three torpedoes at H.M. Storey. All missed. A US Navy plane saw the sub and dropped depth charges. The sub was forced to dive and end the attack.

Operation K

On 23 February 1942, I-19's Yokosuka E14Y (Glen) floatplane made a night reconnaissance over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in preparation for Operation K, the second attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy. On 4 March, she arrived at the French Frigate Shoals to serve as a radio beacon for the Kawanishi H8K (Emily) flying boats that were to attack Pearl Harbor. I-19 did not otherwise participate in the attack, which was carried out by two of the planned five H8Ks. No damages were inflicted by either H8K due to weather obscuring the target.

Aleutian Islands campaign

In early June 1942, I-19 took part in the opening stages of the Aleutian Islands campaign.

Sinking of USS Wasp and USS O'Brien

On 15 September 1942, while patrolling south of the Solomon Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign under the command of Commander Takakazu Kinashi, I-19 sighted and attacked the U.S. carrier Wasp, firing a spread of six torpedoes. Three of the torpedoes hit the Wasp, causing heavy damage. With power knocked out, Wasp’s damage-control teams were unable to contain fires. She was abandoned and scuttled.

O'Brien hit by torpedo as USS Wasp burns. Both ships were torpedoed and sunk by I-19.

The remaining three torpedoes from the spread hit the U.S. battleship North Carolina and the destroyer O'Brien, the latter of which later sank on 19 October 1942 en route for repairs. North Carolina sustained significant damage and underwent repairs at Pearl Harbor until 16 November 1942.

I-19's torpedo salvo sank an aircraft carrier and a destroyer and severely damaged a battleship, making it one of the most damaging torpedo salvos in history.

"Tokyo Express"

From November 1942 until February 1943, I-19 assisted with nocturnal supply and reinforcement deliveries and, later, evacuations for Japanese forces on Guadalcanal. Such missions by Japanese ships to Guadalcanal were called the "Tokyo Express" by Allied forces.

Fiji

Between April and September 1943, I-19 was stationed off Fiji. During this time, the submarine sank two Allied cargo ships and heavily damaged one.

Loss

On 25 November 1943, at 20:49, 50 nautical miles (93 km) west of Makin Island, destroyer USS Radford detected I-19 on the surface with radar. After I-19 submerged, Radford attacked with depth charges. I-19 was lost with all hands in this attack.

References

• Horn, Steve (2005). The Second Attack on Pearl Harbor: Operation K And Other Japanese Attempts to Bomb America in World War II. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-388-8.
• Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Dieter Jung; Peter Mickel (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
• Milanovich, Kathrin (2021). "The IJN Submarines of the I 15 Class". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2021. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. pp. 29–43. ISBN 978-1-4728-4779-9.
• Parshall, Jon; Bob Hackett; Sander Kingsepp; Allyn Nevitt. "Imperial Japanese Navy Page: IJN Submarine I-19: Tabular Record of Movement". Retrieved 6 July 2006.