Type A, B & C Midget Submarines

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From 1934 to 1944, the Japanese Navy built several dozen midget submarines for combat use. They were originally intended to be carried by larger Japanese ships and deployed in the path of an enemy fleet, where they would disrupt its operations with torpedo attacks. However, during the Second World War, the midgets were used for special operations against ships in enemy harbors, among them the 7 December 1941 Pearl Harbor attack and May 1942 raids on Sydney, Australia, and Diego Suarez in the Indian Ocean. The boats also were employed off Guadalcanal in 1942-43, where they achieved modest success against U.S. shipping, and as shore-based defensive units in the Aleutians and elsewhere in the Pacific war zone.

Type A midgets displaced 46 tons, were 78 feet long and carried two 45cm (17.7") diameter torpedoes. Powered by electric motors, they were capable of very high speeds (about 20 knots), but had very limited range. To increase endurance, the prototype Type B and production Type C boats were fitted with a diesel engine to recharge their electric batteries. They had an additional crew member, were slightly longer and heavier, but otherwise resembled the Type A.

Approximately sixty production Type A midget submarines were built between 1934 and 1942, and given alpha-numeric names in the "Ha" series (Ha-1 through Ha-52 and Ha-54 through possibly Ha-61). The single Type B (Ha-53) and fifteen Type Cs (Ha-62 through Ha-76) were built in 1943-44.

  
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