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INDIVIDUAL SHIP

IJN I-63

IJN I-63 is documented as a ships with time-bounded service identities where renaming or reclassification occurred.

Kaidai IIIbImperial Japanese NavyJapanInterwar period and World War IIRepresentative class image
Japanese submarine I-159 on sea trials
Representative class image: Japanese submarine I-159 on sea trialsImperial Japanese Navy Photograph Archive · Public domainImage source
ClassKaidai IIIb
NavyImperial Japanese Navy
CountryJapan
Builder / shipyardSasebo Naval Arsenal
Laid down1926
Launched1927-09-28
Completed1928-12
Recorded statusSunk

Overview

IJN I-63 is documented as a ships with time-bounded service identities where renaming or reclassification occurred.

IJN I-63 is associated with Japan and Imperial Japanese Navy. It belonged to Kaidai IIIb, so the class page provides the shared design history while this page concentrates on the individual ship.

Construction and identity

The available construction record identifies IJN I-63 as built by Sasebo Naval Arsenal, laid down on 1926, launched on 1927-09-28, and completed on 1928-12.

The ship's documented identity includes service with Imperial Japanese Navy.

Service history

Improved Kaidai IIIb fleet submarine with revised hull form and stability changes from the IIIa design.

The ship's configuration should be interpreted through the documented class and the dates attached to this individual vessel; equipment should not be assumed to have remained unchanged throughout service.

Class context: Kaidai IIIb

Five improved Japanese Kaidai IIIb fleet submarines completed from 1928 to 1930.

As a member of Kaidai IIIb, IJN I-63 shared the class's documented design framework and intended roles of Fleet submarine and Long range submarine. Individual refits, transfers, and wartime changes belong to this ship only when separately documented.

Later service and disposition

lost in collision with I-60. The associated date is 1939-02-02. The recorded location is Bungo Strait.

IJN I-63 matters as an individual career within Kaidai IIIb, allowing class-wide design history to be separated from this ship's own construction, identities, service, and fate.

This ship is recorded as a member of Kaidai IIIb. Shared design history belongs on the class page; this page concentrates on the individual hull where evidence is available.

Sources and further reading

  1. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922–1946Conway Maritime Press
  2. Treaty Between the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan, Limiting Naval Armament ↗U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian · accessed 2026-09-18
  3. Kaidai 3b submarines (I56), 1928–1930 ↗Navypedia · accessed 2026-09-18
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