B-TYPE Submarine

The B-TYPE was a scouting submarine specifically for locating the enemy, and for this purpose was equipped with a float plane, hangar and catapult arranged similar to the A-TYPE.

C-TYPE Submarine

The C-TYPE was an attack submarine with a very heavy torpedo armament (eight bow tubes) but without aircraft facilities.

All thirteen submarines were to be completed by October 1941. By this time, the use of reconnaissance floatplanes carried by submarines became common, proving to be extremely useful in numerous exercises. the plane used was the TYPE-96 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane (E9W1) built by Watanabe Iron Works, Ltd whose Allied codename was SLIM. Its specifications follow:

• Single engine, twin-float sesquiplane, metal & wooden structure with fabric covering;
• Crew of two in open cockpits;
• 300 - 340hp Gasuden Tempu 11 or 12 nine-cyl radial air-cooled engine driving a two-bladed propeller;
• One dorsal flexible 7.7mm machine gun;
• Wingspan - 9.98 meters (32 feet, 9 inches);
• Length - 7.64 meters (23 feet, 3/4 inch);
• Height - 3.29 meters (10 feet, 9 1/9 inches);
• Wing area - 22.08 square meters (237.67 square feet);
• Empty weight - 847 kilograms (1,867 pounds);
• Loaded weight - 1,210 kilograms (2,667 pounds);
• Wing loading - 54.8 kilograms per square meter (11.21 pounds per square foot);
• Power loading - 3.56 kilograms per hp (7.81 pounds per hp);
• Maximum speed - 126 knot (145 mph) at sea level;
• Cruising speed - 80knot (92 mph);
• Alighting speed - 50knot (57.5 mph);
• Climb to 300o meters (9,843 feet) in 9 minutes 41 seconds;
• Service ceiling 674 meters (22,112 feet);
• Range 320 - 395 nautical miles (368 - 454 statute miles);
• Endurance was 4.9 hours;

Thirty three were built between 1934 and 1940.

It required a submarine to stay surfaced for at least twenty minutes while the plane was assembled and readied for flight, which was considered a drawback. The catapult was operated by compressed air.

The TYPE 96 seaplane was replaced partly by the low-wing monoplane, the TYPE-0 Small Reconnaissance seaplane E14Y1 whose Allied name was GLEN in 1940, designed by First Naval Air Technical Arsenal, which could be assembled for launching by seven men in ten minutes. This plane will be described later. In the early phase of the war the TYPE 96 was still carried by some subs in operations.