Japanese submarine I-37

I-37 was a Japanese Type B1 submarine in service with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She was completed at Kure Navy Yard on 10 March 1943. She was sunk off of Palau by USS Conklin on 19 November 1944.

Design
I-37 was built in accordance with the specifications of the B1 class submarines. I-37 was 108.7 meters (356 ft 8 in) long, had a beam of 9.3 meters (30 ft 6 in) and a draft of 5.1 meters (16 ft 9 in). She could dive to 100 meters (330 feet.)

She was armed with six internal bow 53.3 cm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes and carried a total of 17 torpedoes. I-37 was also armed with a single 140 mm (5.5 in) deck gun and two mounts for Type 96 anti-aircraft guns.

Service history
The submarine that would become I-37 was laid down at Kure Navy Yard as Submarine No. 150 on 7 December 1940. She was launched on 22 October 1941 as I-49. On 10 March 1943 she was commissioned in Kure and renumbered I-37.

Originally attached to the Kure Naval District, she was transferred to Penang in June 1943 for patrols in the Indian Ocean. There she began raiding allied shipping. She sank the British armed tanker San Ernesto on 16 June, the liberty ship USS Henry Knox on 19 June, the Greek merchant Faneromeni on 23 October, and the Norwegian tanker Scotia on 27 November.

I-37 was at some point attached to the Japanese Eighth Fleet.

On 19 November 1944 I-37 was pursued and destroyed in a hedgehog attack by USS Conklin. She was presumed lost on 6 December 1944 and was stricken from the navy list on 10 March 1945.