Japanese submarine I-175


The Japanese submarine I-175 was a Kaidai type of cruiser submarine of the KD6B sub-class. It was built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the mid-1930s.

Design and description

The submarines of the KD6B sub-class were essentially repetitions of the preceding KD6A sub-class. They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of. The boats 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 KD3Bs had a range of at ; submerged, they had a range of at.
The boats were armed with six internal torpedo tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern. They carried a total of 14 torpedoes. They were also armed with one Type 3 120 mm 45 caliber naval gun| deck gun for combat on the surface and two Hotchkiss M1929 machine gun| anti-aircraft machineguns.

Career

I-175 participated in the Attack on Pearl Harbor and sank the 3,252-ton American merchant vessel Manini on 17 December 1941, 180 miles south of Hawaii. In July 1942 she operated off the eastern coast of Australia and sank the French merchant vessel Cagou, the Australian trawler Dureenbee and damaged the Australian merchant vessels Allara and Murada. I-175 was depth charged by HMAS Cairns on 26 July 1942 and evaded destruction.
On 12 August, the submarine was damaged by aircraft from USS Enterprise and needed repairs at Rabaul. I-175 was damaged in a collision with the oiler Nisshin Maru on 20 November 1942 at Truk and was run aground to prevent her from sinking. The submarine required repairs at Yokosuka.
I-175 is best known for having sunk Escort carrier USS Liscome Bay on 24 November 1943, killing 54 officers and 648 enlisted men.
I-175 was herself sunk 2 months later on 4 February 1944, during the Battle of Kwajalein, when she was attacked by destroyers USS Charrette and Fair. Fair fired several grenades from her Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar at the Japanese submarine and sank her with the entire crew at position.