Japanese submarine I-44

I-44 sorties on a kaiten mission from the naval base at Otsujima, Japan, on 3 April 1945.
History
Japan
Name	Submarine No. 374
Builder	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Yokosuka, Japan
Laid down	11 June 1942
Renamed	I-44
Launched	5 March 1943
Completed	31 January 1944
Commissioned	31 January 1944
Fate	Missing after 4 April 1945 Probably sunk 29 April 1945
Stricken	10 June 1945
General characteristics
Class and type	Type B2 submarine
Displacement	2,624 tons surfaced 3,700 tons submerged
Length	356.5 ft (108.7 m)
Beam	30.5 ft (9.3 m)
Draft	17 ft (5.2 m)
Propulsion	2 diesels: 11,000 hp (8,200 kW) Electric motors: 2,000 hp (1,500 kW)
Speed	23.5 knots (43.5 km/h) surfaced 8 knots (15 km/h) submerged
Range	14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h)
Test depth	100 m (330 ft)
Complement	114
Armament	6 × 533 mm (21 in) forward torpedo tubes 17 torpedoes 1 × 14 cm (5.5 in) deck gun (removed October 1944–February 1945) 6 × kaiten suicide attack torpedoes (added October 1944–February 1945)
Aircraft carried	1 x floatplane (removed October 1944–February 1945)
Aviation facilities	Hangar and catapult (removed October 1944–February 1945)

I-44 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type B2 submarine. Completed and commissioned in January 1944, she served in the late stages of World War II, she conducted war patrols in the Pacific Ocean as a conventional submarine before she was converted into a kaiten suicide attack torpedo carrier. She then conducted kaiten operations during the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa before she was sunk in April 1945.