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The Vanished Golden Submarine’s Final Journey and Fate

Khalid Elhassan December 8, 2024 14 min

I-52 - Underwater wreckage of the Golden Submarine — Underwater wreckage of the Golden Submarine. National Geographic

14. The WWII Revival of a WWI Trick

A C3 submarine submarine schematic. Drawing Database

During WWII, the Japanese took a page from Germany’s WWI playbook, and built large cargo-carrying submarines. Designated the Type C3, Junsen Hei-gata Kai Sensuikan (“Cruiser Submarine Type C Modified”), and built in 1943 to 1944, these submarines were among the largest ever built to date, and among the most advanced underwater vessels of the war. Designed and manufactured by the Mitsubishi Corporation, the Type C3s measured over 350 feet in length and over 30 feet in the beam, and had crews of up to 94 men. They had a cruising range of over 20,000 nautical miles, and could do so at a long cruising range speed of 12 knots. That made the Type C3s well suited for long distance trade and intelligence missions between Germany and Japan.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.