Japanese submarine I-60

The Japanese submarine I-60 was a cruiser submarine of the KD3B sub-class built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1920s. The boat supported Japanese forces during the Dutch East Indies campaign in early 1942 until she was sunk by a British destroyer on 17 January.

Design and description
The submarines of the KD3B sub-class were essentially repeats of the preceding KD3A sub-class with minor modifications to improve seakeeping. They displaced 1800 LT surfaced and 2300 LT submerged. The submarines were 101 m long, had a beam of 8 m and a draft of 4.9 m. The boats had a diving depth of 60 m and a complement of 60 officers and crewmen.

For surface running, the boats were powered by two 3400 bhp diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 900 hp electric motor. They could reach 20 kn on the surface and 8 kn underwater. On the surface, the KD3Bs had a range of 10000 nmi at 10 kn; submerged, they had a range of 90 nmi at 3 kn.

The boats were armed with eight internal 53.3 cm torpedo tubes, six in the bow and two in the stern. They carried one reload for each tube; a total of 16 torpedoes. They were also armed with one 120 mm deck gun for combat on the surface.

Construction and career
Built by the Sasebo Naval Arsenal, I-60 was laid down on 10 October 1927, launched on 24 April 1929 and completed on 25 December 1929. The boat was refitting in late 1941 and did not conduct her first war patrol until 10 January 1942 when she departed Davao City, the Philippines, to search for Allies ships south of the Sunda Strait.