I-2 was an Imperial Japanese Navy J1 type cruiser submarine commissioned in 1926. She served in the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. During the latter conflict she operated in support of the attack on Pearl Harbor, conducted anti-shipping patrols in the Indian Ocean, supported the Indian Ocean raid, and took part in the Aleutian Islands campaign, the Guadalcanal campaign, Operation Ke, and the New Guinea campaign before she was sunk in April 1944.
Construction and commissioning Built by Kawasaki at Kobe, Japan, I-2 was laid down on 6 August 1923 with the name Submarine Cruiser No. 75. While she was on the building ways, she was renamed I-2 on 1 November 1924. She was launched on 23 February 1925 and was completed and commissioned on 24 July 1926.
Service history 1926–1937 Upon commissioning, I-2 was assigned to the Yokosuka Naval District, and she moved from Kobe to Yokosuka before the end of July 1926. On 1 August 1926, she and her sister ship were assigned to Submarine Division 7 in Submarine Squadron 2 in the 2nd Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet. On 1 July 1927, the division was reassigned to the Yokosuka Defense Division in the Yokosuka Naval District, and on 15 September 1927 it returned to duty in Submarine Squadron 2 in the 2nd Fleet.
On 15 November 1929, I-2 was decommissioned and placed in reserve. While in reserve, she underwent modernization, in which her German-made diesel engines and entire battery installation were replaced. With the work completed, she was recommissioned on 15 November 1930, and on 30 November 1929 Submarine Division 7 again was assigned to the Yokosuka Defense Division in the Yokosuka Naval District.
On 1 August 1930, Submarine Division 7 began an assignment to Submarine Squadron 1 in the 1st Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet, The division was reassigned to the Yokosuka Defense Division in the Yokosuka Naval District on 1 October 1931, but it began another tour of duty in Submarine Squadron 1 in the 1st Fleet on 1 December 1931. It completed this assignment on 1 October 1932 and again was assigned to the Yokosuka Defense Division in the Yokosuka Naval District, then returned to Submarine Squadron 1 in the 1st Fleet for a third time on 15 November 1933. The German naval attaché to Japan, Kapitän zur See Paul Wenneker, toured I-2 between 14:50 and 15:40 on 10 January 1935 while she was tied up at Yokosuka.
I-2 got underway from Sasebo, Japan, in company with the other vessels of Submarine Squadron 1 — I-1 and of Submarine Division 7 and , , and of Submarine Division 8 — for a training cruise in Chinese waters on 29 March 1935. The six submarines concluded the cruise with their return to Sasebo on 4 April 1935. On 1 October 1935, I-2 again was decommissioned and placed in reserve to undergo reconstruction, and on 15 November 1935 her division was reassigned to the Yokosuka Defense Squadron in the Yokosuka Naval District,
While I-2 was out of commission, her American-made K-tube sonar was replaced by a sonar system manufactured in Japan and her conning tower was streamlined. Submarine Division 7 returned to duty with Submarine Squadron 1 in the 1st Fleet on 20 January 1936, and after her reconstruction was complete, I-2 was recommissioned on 1 December 1936 and rejoined the division. On 27 March 1937, I-2 departed Sasebo in company with I-1, I-3, I-4, I-5, and I-6 for training in the vicinity of Qingdao, China. The six submarines concluded the training cruise with their arrival at Ariake Bay on 6 April 1937.
Second Sino-Japanese War On 7 July 1937 the first day of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident took place, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War. On 28 July 1937, I-2′s division, Submarine Division 7, was assigned to Submarine Squadron 1 in the 1st Fleet, and in September 1937 Submarine Squadron 1 was reassigned to the 3rd FleetBoyd and Yoshida, p. 54. which in turn was subordinated to the China Area Fleet for service in Chinese waters. The squadron, consisting of I-2, her division mate I-1, and the submarines , , , and , deployed to a base at Hong Kong with the submarine tenders and in September 1937. From Hong Kong, the submarines began operations in support of a Japanese blockade of China and patrols of China's central and southern coast. From 20 or 21 (sources disagree) to 23 August 1937, all six submarines of Submarine Squadron 1 operated in the East China Sea as distant cover for an operation in which the battleships , , , and and the light cruiser ferried troops from Tadotsu, Japan, to Shanghai, China.
Submarine Squadron 1 was based at Hong Kong until the autumn of 1938. In an effort to reduce international tensions over the conflict in China, Japan withdrew its submarines from Chinese waters in December 1938.
1938–1941 Submarine Division 7 was reassigned to the Submarine School at Kure, Japan, on 15 December 1938, and was reduced to the Third Reserve in the Yokosuka Naval District on 15 November 1939. While in reserve, I-2 on 20 November 1939 began a refit, during which impulse tanks were installed on her Type 15 torpedo tubes, her collapsible radio masts were removed, and a long-range very-low-frequency receiver. Meanwhile, Submarine Division 7 returned to active service when it was assigned to Submarine Squadron 2 in the 6th Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet, on 15 November 1940. After completion of her refit, I-2 was recommissioned on 31 July 1941 and rejoined her division.
On 10 November 1941, the commander of the 6th Fleet, Vice Admiral Mitsumi Shimizu, gathered the commanding officers of the fleet's submarines together for a meeting aboard his flagship, the light cruiser , anchored in Saeki Bay, and his chief of staff briefed them on the upcoming attack on Pearl Harbor, which would bring Japan and the United States into World War II. As the Imperial Japanese Navy began to deploy for the upcoming conflict in the Pacific, I-2 got underway from Yokosuka at 12:00 on 16 November 1941, bound for the Hawaiian Islands. By 1 December 1941, she was within of Oahu.
World War II First war patrol On 7 December 1941, I-2 arrived in her patrol area in the Kauai Channel between Oahu and Kauai with orders to attack any ships which sortied from Pearl Harbor during or after the attack, which occurred that morning. On 27 December 1941, she received an order from the commander of Submarine Squadron 2 aboard the submarine to bombard the harbor at Kahului, Maui, on 30 December. I-2 arrived off Kahului during daylight hours on 30 December 1941 and conducted a periscope reconnaissance of the harbor, noting a small merchant ship moored at the pier. After dark, she surfaced and fired ten high-explosive rounds from her deck guns at the ship, but most fell short and some went wide in the direction of Puʻunene.
On 9 January 1942, I-2 was ordered to divert from her patrol and search for the United States Navy aircraft carrier , which the submarine had sighted. but she did not find Lexington. She arrived at Kwajalein in company with I-1 and I-3 on 22 January 1942. The three submarines departed Kwajalein on 24 January 1942 bound for Yokosuka, which I-2 reached on 1 February 1942.
Second war patrol While I-2 was at Yokosuka, Submarine Squadron 2 — consisting of I-1, I-2, I-3, I-4, I-6, and I-7 — was assigned to the Dutch East Indies Invasion Force. Accordingly, I-2 departed Yokosuka on 12 February 1942 bound for Palau, where she arrived on 16 February 1942 and refueled from the oiler , then got back underway on 17 February in company with I-3 bound for the Netherlands East Indies. The two submarines arrived at Staring Bay on the Southeast Peninsula of Celebes just southeast of Kendari on 22 February 1942, then put back to sea that same afternoon, heading for the Indian Ocean off the southwest coast of Australia, beginning I-2′s second war patrol.
On 1 March 1942, I-2 was in the Indian Ocean south of Bali when she attacked two unidentified Allied steamships at 20:03 Greenwich Mean Time, claiming one of them sunk. One source identifies the sunken ship as the Dutch 1,172-gross register ton merchant ship Parigi, sunk west of Freemantle, Australia. At 00:58 on 2 March 1942, she unsuccessfully attacked another Allied steamer, probably the Dutch merchant ship .
On 11 March 1942, I-2 sighted the British 4,360-gross register ton armed cargo ship Chilka — which was nearing the end of a voyage from Calcutta, India, to Padang, Sumatra — in the Indian Ocean off western Sumatra south of Padang at . I-2 surfaced on Chilka′s port quarter and opened fire with both of her deck guns. Chilka fired back with her only gun, but over the next 25 minutes suffered 14 hits, which killed three officers, three lascars, and a gunner. After I-2 knocked out Chilka′s gun, Chilka stopped her engines and surrendered. I-2 ceased fire and allowed Chilka′s survivors to abandon ship. Chilka sank at . I-2 concluded her patrol with her arrival at Penang in Japanese-occupied British Malaya on 14 March 1942.
Indian Ocean raid Orders arrived from the headquarters of the Combined Fleet for all the submarines of Submarine Squadron 2 except for I-1 to conduct reconnaissance operations along the coast of Ceylon and western coast of India in preparation for Operation C, the upcoming Indian Ocean raid by the aircraft carriers of the Combined Fleet's Mobile Force. Accordingly, I-2 departed Penang at 12:00 on 22 March 1942 to reconnoiter Trincomalee on the coast of Ceylon. She arrived off Ceylon on 31 March 1942 and reached a point off Trincomalee Bay at 08:00 local time on 2 April 1942, but was unable to get any closer to the coast because of heavy patrolling by Allied patrol boats, sighting no enemy vessels except for the patrol boats. She transmitted her first weather report off Trincomalee on 3 April 1942. At 06:31 on 4 April 1942 she reported her activities since her arrival on station at 31 March 1942, noting that she had sighted no enemy aircraft since her arrival. The following day, carrier aircraft of the Mobile Force struck Colombo, Ceylon.
On 7 April 1942 I-2 reported sinking an unidentified merchant ship at , and she transmitted another weather report on 9 April 1942. Later that day, Japanese carrier aircraft struck Trincomalee. Reassigned to the Advanced Force, I-2 departed her patrol area on 10 April 1942 and proceeded to Singapore, which she reached on 15 April 1942.
April–May 1942 I-2 got underway from Singapore on 21 April 1942 bound for Japan, where she arrived at Yokosuka on 1 May 1942 to undergo a refit. During the refit, shipyard workers replaced her 7.7-millimeter machine gun on her bridge with a 13.2-millimeter Type 3 machine gun, replaced her German-made Zeiss rangefinder with a Japanese-made Type 97 rangefinder, removed some of the armor protecting her torpedo storage compartment, and installed an automatic trim system aboard her.
Third war patrol
The Aleutian Islands campaign began on 3–4 June 1942 with a Japanese air raid on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, followed quickly by the unopposed Japanese occupation in the Aleutian Islands of Attu on 5 June and Kiska on 7 June 1942. On 11 June 1942, I-2 set out for Aleutian waters in company with I-1, I-3, I-6, and I-7 to begin her third war patrol. On 20 June 1942, I-1, I-2, and I-3 joined the "K" patrol line in the North Pacific Ocean between and . Refueling from the oiler on 24 June 1942, she remained on the patrol line until 3 July 1942. On 17 July 1942, she attacked an unidentified Soviet merchant ship with gunfire south of Dutch Harbor, but a U.S. Navy PBY Catalina flying boat drove her off. On 20 July 1942, she was reassigned to the Advance Force and ordered to return to Japan. She arrived at Yokosuka on 1 August 1942 and underwent repairs there.
Guadalcanal campaign