I-400-class submarine

Uncommon card · No. 94090

The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) I-400-class submarines (伊四百型潜水艦, I-yon-hyaku-gata sensuikan) were submarine aircraft carriers able to carry three Aichi M6A Seiran aircraft underwater to their destinations. They were designed to surface, launch their planes, then quickly dive again before they were discovered. They also carried torpedoes for close-range combat. At 122 m (400 ft), the three I-400s were the largest submarines of World War II, with the final completed submarine being finished roughly a month before the end of the war. They remained the largest submarines ever built until the construction of nuclear ballistic missile submarines in the 1960s. The official designation was the Sentoku type submarine (潜特型潜水艦, Sen-Toku-gata sensuikan), "Sentoku" being the abbreviation of Sensuikan Toku (潜水艦特, Submarine Special). The I-400 class was designed with the range to travel anywhere in the world and return. A fleet of 18 boats was planned in 1942, and work started on the first in January...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Public domain