The second I-53 was the second of three Type C cruiser submarines of the C3 sub-class built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Commissioned in February 1944, she operated primarily as a kaiten manned suicide attack torpedo carrier during the final year of World War II and sank the destroyer escort . Surrendered at the end of the war, she was scuttled by the United States Navy in 1946. Design and description The Type C3 submarines were derived from the earlier C2 sub-class although with fewer torpedo tubes, an additional deck gun, and less-powerful engines to extend their range. They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of . They had a diving depth of . For surface running, the boats were powered by two diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the C3s had a range of at ; submerged, they had a range of at . The boats were armed with six internal bow torpedo tubes and carried a total of 19 torpedoes. They were also armed with two /40 deck guns and one twin mount for Type 96 anti-aircraft guns. Construction and commissioning Ordered under the Rapid Naval Armaments Supplement Programme and built by the Kure Navy Yard at Kure, Japan, I-53 was laid down on 15 May 1942 with the name Submarine No. 626. She was numbered I-53 and provisionally attached to the Kure Naval District on 1 November 1942; she was the second Japanese submarine of that number, the first having been renumbered I-153 on 20 May 1942. Launched on 24 December 1942, she was completed and commissioned on 20 February 1944. Service history Operation Tatsumaki Upon commissioning, I-53 was attached formally to the Kure Naval District. She was assigned to Submarine Squadron 11 in the 6th Fleet for work-ups. After refueling at the 3rd Fuel Depot, she departed Tokuyama on 29 March 1944 to resume work-ups in the Seto Inland Sea. In April 1944, she joined the submarines , , , and in training in the Seto Inland Sea for Operation Tatsumaki ("Tornado"), in which the submarines were to transport modified Type 4 Ka-Tsu amphibious tracked landing craft, each armed with two torpedoes, from Kure to Majuro in the Marshall Islands. After the submarines launched the