Japanese Type L submarine


The Type L submarine submarines were medium-sized submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy, serving during the 1920s and World War II. The Type L submarines were built with Vickers naval technical guidance. All boats were built in the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-Kobe Shipyard by the contract with Vickers.

Class variants

The Type L submarines were divided into four classes:
In 1916, the Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Corporation got the Vickers L class submarine informations. Mitsubishi which lost competition to the Kawasaki's Type F submarines, bought the license for the L class submarine from Vickers. The IJN hoped an improvement of submarine technologies will be achieved and ordered this submarine from Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi bought 6 submarine kits, and built 2 boats by semi-knock down. The submarine crews were satisfied with the Vickers diesels because they proved to be reliable. The IJN studied the diesel engines and made many variants of similar design, for example: Kampon Mk.24 diesel for the 'Ro-100 class.
  • Boats in class
BoatLaid downLaunchedCompletedNote, fate'

ex-Submarine No. 25		10-08-191810-10-191930-06-1920Renamed Ro-51 01-11-1924. Decommissioned 01-04-1940.

ex-Submarine No. 26		10-08-191809-03-192030-11-1920Renamed Ro-52 01-11-1924. Decommissioned 01-04-1932.

''Type L2 (Ro-53-class)''

The Type L2 had minor changes from the Type L1. The changes were:
BoatLaid downLaunchedCompletedNote, fate

ex-Submarine No. 27		01-04-191906-07-191910-03-1921Renamed Ro-53 01-11-1924. Decommissioned 01-04-1940.

ex-Submarine No. 28		01-11-191913-11-192010-09-1921Renamed Ro-54 01-11-1924. Decommissioned 01-04-1940.

ex-Submarine No. 29		30-03-192010-02-192115-11-1921Renamed Ro-55 01-11-1924. Decommissioned 01-04-1940.

ex-Submarine No. 30		10-07-192011-05-192116-01-1922Renamed Ro-56 01-11-1924. Decommissioned 01-04-1940.

''Type L3 (Ro-57-class)''

The Type L3 is a license production model of the British L class submarine Group 2.
  • Boats in class
BoatLaid downLaunchedCompletedResultsNote, fate

ex-Submarine No. 46		20-11-192003-12-192130-07-1922Renamed Ro-57 01-11-1924. Decommissioned 20-11-1945. Later scuttled off Kure.

ex-Submarine No. 47		15-02-192102-03-192225-11-1922Renamed Ro-58 01-11-1924. Decommissioned 15-09-1945. Later scuttled off Shimizu.

ex-Submarine No. 57		18-05-192128-06-192220-03-1923Renamed Ro-59 01-11-1924. Decommissioned 20-11-1945. Scuttled at Iyo-nada, May 1946.

''Type L4 (Ro-60-class)''

The Type L4 is a license production model of the British L class submarine Group 3. Their performance was good. The IJN was satisfied with them and stopped the development of Kaichū type submarines for a long time. Later the IJN was not able to regain the technical delay in development of the medium-sized submarines until the end of the Pacific War.
  • Boats in class
BoatLaid downLaunchedCompletedResultsNote, fate

ex-Submarine No. 59		05-12-192120-12-192217-09-1923Renamed Ro-60 01-11-1924. Lost in an accident at Kwajalein 29-12-1941.

ex-Submarine No. 72		05-06-192219-05-192309-02-1924Damaged 30-08-1942Renamed Ro-61 01-11-1924. Sunk by 31-08-1942.

ex-Submarine No. 73		08-09-192229-09-192324-07-1924Renamed Ro-62 01-11-1924. Decommissioned 20-11-1945. Scuttled at Iyo-nada, May 1946.

ex-Submarine No. 84		02-04-192324-01-192420-12-1924Renamed Ro-63 01-11-1924. Decommissioned 20-11-1945. Scuttled at Iyo-nada, May 1946.

ex-Submarine No. 79		15-10-192319-08-192430-04-1925Renamed Ro-64 01-11-1924. Sunk by naval mine at Hiroshima Bay 12-04-1945.
15-11-192419-09-192530-06-1926Lost in an accident at Kiska 04-11-1942.
01-12-192525-10-192628-07-1927Clashed with Ro-62'' and sunk at southwest of Wake Island 17-12-1941.
05-03-192518-03-192615-12-1926Decommissioned 20-07-1945. Scuttled off Sasebo, July 1948.
06-02-192423-02-192529-10-1925Decommissioned 30-11-1945. Scuttled off Maizuru, 30-04-1946.

Characteristics

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