I-32 was an Imperial Japanese Navy B1 type submarine. Completed and commissioned in 1942, she served in World War II, operating in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean and supporting Japanese forces in the New Guinea campaign and the Guadalcanal campaign before she was sunk in March 1944. Construction and commissioning I-32 was laid down on 20 January 1940 by at the Sasebo Navy Yard at Sasebo, Japan, with the name Submarine No. 145. She had been renamed I-39 by the time she was launched on 17 December 1940. Renamed I-32 on 1 November 1941, she was completed and commissioned on 26 April 1942. Service history Upon commissioning, I-32 was attached to the Kure Naval District. On 30 May 1942, she was reassigned to Submarine Division 15 in Submarine Squadron 1 in the 6th Fleet. She departed Kure on 16 June 1942 and proceeded to Truk. First war patrol On 30 June 1942, I-32 set out from Truk on her first war patrol, assigned a patrol area off Australia. She conducted a reconnaissance of Port Vila on Efate in the New Hebrides on 9 July 1942 and of New Caledonia between 13 and 15 July 1942. She then passed around the south of Australia. She was in the Indian Ocean south-southeast of Esperance, Western Australia, on 4 August 1942 when she surfaced at around 19:10 and attacked the Australian armed troop transport Katoomba with gunfire. Katoomba, which was on a voyage from Fremantle, Western Australia, to Adelaide, South Australia, transmitted a distress signal and returned fire while attempting to escape at flank speed. I-32 pursued her for thee hours before giving up the chase, having scored no hits on Katoomba. I-32 concluded her patrol with her arrival on 28 August 1942 at George Town on Penang Island in Japanese-occupied British Malaya. She left Penang on 6 September 1942 and proceeded to Truk, which she reached on 18 September 1942. Second war patrol With a Yokosuka E14Y1 (Allied reporting name "Glen") floatplane embarked, I-32 got underway from Truk on 30 September 1942 to begin her second war patrol nd was reassigned to the 2nd Picket Unit day. Her patrol area was in the vicinity of New Caledonia, and she was tasked to launch her plane on 17 October 1942 to make a reconnaissance flight over Nouméa. On 3 October 1942, she was reassigned to the 1st Picket Unit, but she developed