IJN Submarines & MTB sections

IJN Submarines & MTB sections

Submarines: The Kaidai-7 class, or KD-7, was developed in the late 1930s, following on from the preceding KD-6 class. With a surface range of 8,000nm at 16kts and an underwater endurance of 50nm at 5kts, they possessed slightly better underwater performance than the later KD-6 models, and better surface speed (though not range) than earlier members of that class. By mid-1944 all members of this class had been lost. Another ocean-going submarine, equipped with 533mm torpedo tubes fore and aft, served in the South Pacific and off the waters of Australia. I-177 sank the hospital ship AHS Centaur off Stradbroke Island. She was presumed lost with all hands on November 18th 1944, while I-176 had been sunk off the Solomon's six months previously. A total of 10 KD-7 type submarines were built.

MTBs: Designed as suicide boats, the Shin'yo carried either a powerful explosive charge or two depth charges. The depth charges were to be attached by the boat's pilot, who would then make his escape. Although almost 10,000 were built, they accounted for the sinking of only 5 vessels, mainly landing craft.

The Imperial Japanese Navy launched a number of variants of a standard design of torpedo boats, differing mainly in the adaption of their machinery, which affected displacement, giving the illusion of greater variety than existed in practice. Within these designations, 238 boats were built, all armed with twin 18-inch torpedoes and 25mm or 13.2mm guns.

Box contains:

• Kaidai Class 7 Submarines x 3
• Shin'yo Kamikaze Boat sections x 2
• T-14 MTB sections x2
• Ship Cards

Models supplied unassembled and unpainted.