Japanese submarine I-54 (1926)

The Japanese submarine I-54 was a cruiser submarine of the KD3A sub-class built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1920s. She supported Japanese forces during the invasion of Malaya in December 1941 and the Dutch East Indies campaign in early 1942.

Design and description
The submarines of the KD3A sub-class were the first Japanese-designed cruiser submarines, based on experience with earlier designs based on British and German cruiser submarines. They displaced 1800 LT surfaced and 2300 LT submerged. The submarines were 100 m long, had a beam of 8 m and a draft of 4.82 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 KD3As 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-54 was laid down as Submarine No. 77 on 15 November 1924, but was redesignated as I-54 before the end of the year. The boat was launched on 15 March 1926 and completed on 15 December 1927. On 10 February 1932, she was slightly damaged when she accidentally rammed by her sister ship, JAPANESE SUBMARINE I-55. The boat was often placed in reserve for several months at a time during the late 1930s.