Two bombers inside the samurai sub I-14's watertight hangar (pictured in a computer-generated cutaway image) could catapult off the deck within minutes of surfacing, say archaeologists who found the wreck of the World War II Japanese submarine off Hawaii in February 2009.
In dry dock the I-14 submarine stood almost four stories high and, at 375 feet (114 meters), was longer than a football field. The Japanese aircraft-carrying submarine held up to three folding-wing float planes armed with 1,800-pound (816-kilogram) bombs.
That a submarine could have bombing capability was an idea well ahead of its time, said NOAA's Van Tilburg. "That concept is so powerful, because essentially that's what we have today," he said, referring to modern submarines armed with guided missiles.
Part of Japan's Sen Taka class--the fastest submarines of World War II--the I-201 could go 22 miles (35 kilometers) an hour underwater.
I-200-class subs could also dive deeper than any other Japanese submarine and stay underwater for up to a month, say archaeologists who rediscovered the I-201 deep off Hawaii in February 2009.
A sleek conning tower, retractable deck guns (pictured extended in a computer image), and retractable diving planes (not pictured), which help pitch the submarine toward the surface or the seafloor, helped streamline the boat for utmost speed.
