I-30 was a Type B1 submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. After operating in the Indian Ocean she participated in a Yanagi mission, aimed at connecting Japan and Nazi Germany by submarine. She was the first Japanese submarine to reach Europe, arriving at Lorient, France in August 1942. I-30 returned to Singapore loaded with military technology and information, but hit a mine outside the harbour and sank. Only part of her cargo was salvaged. Service history The submarine was laid down at the Kure Naval Arsenal on 7 June 1939, launched on 17 September 1940, completed on 28 February 1942, and commissioned with Commander Endo Shinobu in command. Indian Ocean operations On 27 March 1942 the German Kriegsmarine naval staff requested that the Imperial Navy launch operations against Allied convoys in the Indian Ocean, and on 8 April the Japanese agreed to dispatch a detachment of submarines to the East Coast of Africa. Submarine Squadron 8's 1st Division was withdrawn from its base at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands and assigned the task. On 11 April, I-30 departed Kure for Penang, Malaya, arriving on the 20th. Two days later she sailed from Penang accompanied by the auxiliary cruiser and supply ship Aikoku Maru to reconnoitre selected points on the East African coast for possible attack. In May I-30 sailed along the coast of Africa, launching its Yokosuka E14Y floatplane on a series of reconnaissance flights over Aden, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, and Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth and Simon's Town in South Africa searching for targets. On the night of 29 May I-30 she sent her aircraft to the harbour of Diego Suarez at the northern tip of Madagascar, which was occupied by the British. The aircraft sighted the battleship at anchor in the bay, along with the destroyers and , corvettes and , troopship Karanja, hospital ship Atlantis, tanker British Loyalty, merchant ship Llandaff Castle, and an ammunition ship. The next night the Type C submarines I-16 and I-20 launched their Ko-hyoteki midget submarines about 10 miles from the harbour. At 20:25, one torpedoed and damaged the Ramillies. The corvettes counter-attacked with depth charges, but at 21:20 the midget from I-20 torpedoed and sank the British Loyalty. The I-16s midget submarine went missing, presumed sunk, while the I-20s beached further along the coast. Its two crewmen were discovered by Royal Marines, and in the ensuing