The submarines of the KD7 sub-class were medium-range attack submarines developed from the preceding KD6 sub-class. They displaced 1,862 metric tons (1,833 long tons) surfaced and 2,644 metric tons (2,602 long tons) submerged. The submarines were 105.5 meters (346 ft 2 in) long and had a beam of 8.25 meters (27 ft 1 in) and a draft of 4.6 meters (15 ft 1 in). They had a diving depth of 80 m (262 ft) and a complement of 86 officers and crewmen.[1]
For surface running, the submarines were powered by two 4,000-brake-horsepower (2,983 kW) diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged, each propeller was driven by a 900-horsepower (671 kW) electric motor. The submarines could reach 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) on the surface and 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) underwater. On the surface, the KD7s had a range of 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph); submerged, they had a range of 50 nmi (93 km; 58 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph).[2]
The submarines were armed with six internal 53.3 cm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes, all in the bow. They carried one reload for each tube; a total of 12 torpedoes. They were originally intended to be armed with two twin-gun mounts for the 25 mm (1.0 in) Type 96anti-aircraft gun, but a 120 mm (4.7 in)deck gun for combat on the surface was substituted for one 25 mm mount during construction.[3]
At 10:40 on 6 October 1943, I-183 began diving exercises in the waters of Hiroshima Bay west of Osu on Etajima.[4] During a practice crash dive, a sailor failed to close the main induction valve, causing I-183′s engine room to flood.[4]I-183′s crew made an emergency blow of her main ballast tank, but her stern sank to the bottom, and she came to rest with her bow sticking out of the water.[4] Engineer Lieutenant Yoshio Hirobe managed to close the watertight hatch leading to the aft crew compartment, containing flooding to the main engine room and electric motor room, but trapping him and 15 other men in the aft section of I-183.[4] Most of I-183′s crew escaped through her forward torpedo tubes, and local fishermen rescued them.[4]
After a floating crane and a team of divers arrived on the scene from the Kure Naval Arsenal at Kure, Japan, a rescue operation began at 20:00 on 6 October 1943 under the personal direction of the commander of Submarine Squadron 11, Rear AdmiralMarquisTadashige Daigo.[4]I-183 was refloated at 1400 on 7 October 1943, but by then all 16 men trapped in the after compartment had died.[4]
While I-183 was under repair after her accident, Submarine Squadron 11 was reassigned to the 6th Fleet, another element of the Combined Fleet, on 25 November 1943.[5]
January–April 1944
Repairs to I-183 were completed in January 1944, and she began post-repair workups that month.[4] On 27 March 1944, Japanese forces sighted an Alliedtask force heading toward Palau, and I-183 and the submarines I-44, Ro-47,Ro-116, and Ro-117 received orders to patrol in the Pacific Ocean east of Palau.[4]I-183 got underway in company with I-44 on 31 March 1944 bound for her patrol area, but she suffered a mechanical failure that forced her to turn back, and she returned to Kure on 6 April 1944 for repairs.[4][5]
On the first evening of her voyage, I-183 was exiting the Bungo Strait on the surface, zigzagging and making 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph), when the United States Navy submarine USS Pogy (SS-266) detected her on radar at 21:21 on 28 April 1944.[4]Pogy gave chase at flank speed, and by 00:34 on 29 April 1944 had closed to a range of 1,300 yards (1,200 m) 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) south of Cape Ashizuri, the southernmost point of Shikoku.[4][5]Pogy fired four Mark 23torpedoes set to run at a depth of 6 feet (1.8 m).[4] The second torpedo struck I-183 at 00:36, and she sank in 40 seconds at 32°07′N133°03′E / 32.117°N 133.050°E / 32.117; 133.050.[4][5]Pogy′s crew heard four or five loud explosions at 00:39, and after 00:42 Pogy reversed course and passed through a large oil slick which her patrol report described as "smelling like the new 100-octane aromatic aviation gasoline."[4]
On 28 May 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared I-183 to be presumed lost with all 92 hands south of Honshu.[4][5] The Japanese struck her from the Navy List on 10 August 1944.[4][5]
Bagnasco, Erminio (1977). Submarines of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-87021-962-6.
Carpenter, Dorr B. & Polmar, Norman (1986). Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1904–1945. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN0-85177-396-6.
Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN0-85177-146-7.
Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. ISBN0-87021-893-X.
