Character

I-47

伊47

I-47 was the second of three Type C cruiser submarines of the C2 sub-class built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Commissioned in July 1944, she operated as a kaiten manned suicide attack torpedo carrier during the final year of World War II. Upon commissioning, I-47 was attached formally to the Yokosuka Naval District. From July through September 1944, she was assigned to Submarine Squadron 11 in the 6th Fleet for work-ups in the Iyo-nada. On 8 October 1944, she was reassigned to Submarine Division 15 in the 6th Fleet, and during October she was configured to carry four kaiten manned suicide attack torpedoes on her after deck, two of them with access tubes that allowed their pilots to enter them while she was submerged. She conducted kaiten launch exercises in Tokuyama Bay from 29 to 31 October 1944, and on 6 November 1944 embarked four kaitens at Otsujima Naval Base. The Japanese struck I-47 from the Navy list on 30 November 1945. In Operation Road's End, the U.S. Navy scuttled her off the Goto Islands on 1 April 1946.