I-75, later I-175, was an Imperial Japanese Navy Kaidai-type cruiser submarine of the KD6B sub-class commissioned in 1938. During World War II, she took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway, the Guadalcanal campaign, the Aleutian Islands campaign, and the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign and operated off Australia, before she was sunk in 1944 during her tenth war patrol. She is best known for sinking the United States Navy escort carrier on 24 November 1943.
Design and description
The submarines of the KD6B sub-class were very similar to the preceding KD6A sub-class. They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long and had a beam of and a draft of . They had a diving depth of
For surface running, the submarines 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 submarines were armed with six internal torpedo tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern. They carried a total of 14 torpedoes. They also were armed with one deck gun and two Hotchkiss M1929 anti-aircraft machine guns.
Construction and commissioning
I-75 was laid down on 1 November 1934 by Mitsubishi in Kobe, Japan. Launched on 16 September 1937, she was completed and commissioned on 18 December 1938.
Service history
Pre-World War II
On the day of her commissioning, I-75 was attached to the Kure Naval District and assigned to Submarine Division 11 in Submarine Squadron 2 in the 2nd Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet. On 15 November 1939, her division was transferred to Submarine Squadron 3, also in the 2nd Fleet. I-75 departed Okinawa on 27 March 1940 in company with the submarines I-68, I-69, , , and I-74 for a training cruise in southern Chinese waters, completing it when the six submarines arrived at Takao, Formosa, on 2 April 1940. On 11 October 1940, I-75 was one of 98 Imperial Japanese Navy ships that gathered along with more than 500 aircraft on the Japanese coast at Yokohama Bay for an Imperial fleet review — the largest fleet review in Japanese history — in honor of the 2,600th anniversary of the enthronement of the Emperor Jimmu, Japan's legendary first emperor. On 15 November 1940, Submarine Squadron 3 was reassigned to the 6th Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet.
On 11 November 1941, the 6th Fleet's commander, Vice Admiral Mitsumi Shimizu, held a meeting with the commanding officers of the submarines of Submarine Squadron 3 aboard his flagship, the light cruiser , and his chief of staff briefed them on plans for Operation Z, the upcoming surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The attack would begin the Pacific campaign and bring Japan and the United States into World War II.
As Japanese military forces began to deploy for the opening Japanese offensive of the war, I-75 was assigned to the Submarine Advance Force on 11 November 1941 and departed Saeki Bay on the coast of Kyushu that day in company with I-74 bound for Kwajalein Atoll, which the two submarines reached on 20 November 1941. Assigned to support Operation Z, I-75 got underway from Kwajalein on 23 November 1941 and set course for the Hawaiian Islands. While she was en route, she 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
First war patrol
When the attack on Pearl Harbor took place on the morning of 7 December 1941, the submarines of Submarine Squadron 3 were deployed south of Oahu, with orders to reconnoiter the area and attack any ships that sortied from Pear Harbor. I-75′s patrol area was southwest of Oahu.
I-75 bombarded the harbor at Kahului on the north coast of Maui on 15 December 1941. She fired 16 rounds from her deck gun. Two shells struck the Maui Pineapple Company cannery, which sustained an estimated US$654.38 in damage.
On 17 December 1941, I-75 hit the American 3,253- or 3,545-gross register ton (according to different sources) merchant ship Manini with one torpedo either (according to different sources) south of Hawaii, then surfaced and illuminated Manini with a searchlight. Manini, which was making a voyage from Honolulu, Hawaii, to San Francisco, California, sank by the stern at with the loss of one crewman. The United States Navy destroyer rescued Manini′s survivors on 28 December 1941.
