Japanese submarine I-185

The Japanese submarine I-185 was a attack submarine of the KD7 sub-class built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1940s. She was sunk with all hands by an American destroyer during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in mid-1944.

Design and description
The submarines of the KD7 sub-class were medium-range attack submarines developed from the preceding KD6 sub-class. They displaced 1833 LT surfaced and 2602 LT submerged. The submarines were 105.5 m long, had a beam of 8.25 m and a draft of 4.6 m. The boats had a diving depth of 80 m and a complement of 86 officers and crewmen.

For surface running, the boats were powered by two 4000 bhp diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 900 hp electric motor. They could reach 23 kn on the surface and 8 kn underwater. On the surface, the KD7s had a range of 8000 nmi at 16 kn; submerged, they had a range of 50 nmi at 5 kn.

The boats were armed with six internal 53.3 cm torpedo tubes, all in the bow. They carried one reload for each tube; a total of a dozen torpedoes. They were originally intended to be armed with two twin-gun mounts for the 25 mm Type 96 anti-aircraft gun, but a 120 mm deck gun for combat on the surface was substituted for one 25 mm mount during construction.

Construction and career
Built by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, the boat was laid down on 9 February 1942 as I-85 and renamed I-185 in 1942. She was launched on 16 September 1943 and completed on 23 September. The boat was sunk with the loss of all 95 officers and crewmen aboard by the destroyer USS Newcomb (DD-586) on 22 June 1944 near Saipan. I-185 was stricken from the Navy List on 10 September 1944.