Japanese submarine I-53 (1925)

On the day of her commissioning, I-53 was attached to the Kure Naval District.[9] On 5 May 1927, she was assigned to Submarine Division 17 in Submarine Squadron 2 in the 2nd Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet.[8] On 5 September 1927, Submarine Division 18 was established as a new component of Submarine Squadron 2, and she was assigned to the new division.[8][9] On 1 December 1930, the division was reassigned to the Kure Defense Squadron in the Kure Naval District,[8] but on 1 December 1931 it began a new tour of duty in Submarine Squadron 2 in the 2nd Fleet.[8]

I-53 got underway from Sasebo, Japan, on 29 June 1933 with the other submarines of her squadron — I-54 and I-55 of Submarine Division 18 and Submarine Division 19′s I-56, I-57 and I-58 — for a training cruise off China and Mako in the Pescadores Islands, which the submarines concluded with their arrival at Takao, Formosa, on 5 July 1933.[8][10][11][12][13][14] They departed Takao on 13 July 1933 and again trained in Chinese waters before arriving in Tokyo Bay on 21 August 1933.[8][10][11][12][13][14] On 25 August 1933, all six submarines took part in a fleet review at Yokohama, Japan.[8][10][11][12][13][14] Submarine Division 18 was reassigned to the Kure Defense Division in the Kure Naval District on 15 November 1933[8] and to the Kure Guard Squadron in the Kure Naval District on 11 December 1933.[8]

On 1 February 1934, Submarine Division 18 returned to duty with Submarine Squadron 2 in the 2nd Fleet, and on 7 February 1935 I-53 got underway from Sasebo along with the other eight submarines of Submarine Squadron 2 — I-54, I-55, I-59, I-60, I-61, I-62, I-63, and I-64 — for a training cruise in the Kuril Islands.[8][10][11][15][16][17][18][19][20] The cruise concluded with their arrival at Sukumo Bay on 25 February 1935.[8][10][11][15][16][17][18][19][20] The nine submarines departed Sasebo on 29 March 1935 to train in Chinese waters, returning to Sasebo on 4 April 1935.[8][10][11][15][16][17][18][19][20] On 15 November 1935, Submarine Division 18 was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 1 in the 1st Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet.[8]

I-53 got underway for fleet exercises off Honshu on 1 February 1936.[8] She was operating on the surface in limited visibility in the Pacific Ocean off Honshu and proceeding toward Sukumo Bay on 27 February 1936 when she suffered an engine failure and I-56 accidentally rammed her 32 nautical miles (59 km; 37 mi) southeast of Daiosaki lighthouse.[8][9] Both submarines suffered minor damage.[9] Again at sea for fleet exercises off Kyushu in May 1936, she again suffered damage in a collision, this time with I-55 on 10 May 1936.[8][11]

On 15 November 1939, Submarine Division 18 was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 4 in the 1st Fleet.[8] On 11 October 1940, I-53 was one of 98 Imperial Japanese Navy ships that gathered along with more than 500 aircraft on the Japanese coast at Yokohama Bay for an Imperial fleet review — the largest fleet review in Japanese history — in honor of the 2,600th anniversary of the enthronement of the Emperor Jimmu, Japan's legendary first emperor.[8][21][22] Submarine Squadron 4 was assigned directly to the Combined Fleet on 15 November 1940.[8]

As the Japanese armed forces mobilized for an offensive against Allied forces that would begin the Pacific campaign of World War II, I-53, I-54, and I-55 departed Kure, Japan, on 20 November 1941 bound for Samah on China′s Hainan Island, which they reached on 26 November 1941.[8] All three submarines departed Samah on 1 December 1941 to take up positions to support the offensive.[8][9] Tasked with supporting Operation E, the Japanese invasion of British Malaya, I-53 arrived in her patrol area in the South China Sea north of the Anambas Islands on 7 December 1941.[9]

Hostilities began in East Asia on 8 December 1941 (7 December across the International Date Line in Hawaii, where Japan began the war with its attack on Pearl Harbor). The Japanese invasion of British Malaya began that day. After an uneventful patrol, I-53 arrived at Cam Ranh Bay in Japanese-occupied French Indochina on 20 December 1941.[9]

On 29 December 1941, I-53 departed Cam Ranh Bay in company with I-54, both submarines beginning their second war patrols.[9][23] They both suffered damage in a heavy gale and had to return to Cam Ranh Bay Bay for repairs.[9][23] With them complete, I-53 got underway from Cam Ranh Bay again on 6 January 1942 to begin the patrol, and operated northwest of Java in the Netherlands East Indies.[9] After another quiet patrol, she returned to Cam Ranh Bay on 24 January 1942.[9]

I-53 departed Cam Ranh Bay on 7 February 1942 in company with I-54 to begin her third war patrol.[9][23] She transited the Lombok Strait on 20 February and entered the Indian Ocean, where she torpedoed and sank the Dutch 917-gross register ton auxiliary tanker Ben 2 – which was on a voyage from Surabaya, Java, to Australia with a cargo of 150-millimeter (5.9 in) artillery shells – 25 nautical miles (46 km; 29 mi) southwest of Banyuwangi, Java, on 27 February.[9] On 28 February, she torpedoed the British 8,917-gross-register-ton armed cargo ship City of Manchester in the Indian Ocean south of Tjilatjap, Java, at 08°16′S 108°52′E, inflicting further damage on the ship with gunfire.[9] The burning City of Manchester soon sank.[9] Of the 157 people aboard City of Manchester, three lost their lives and six went missing, possibly taken by the Japanese as prisoners of war.[9] I-53 completed her patrol on 8 March 1942, arriving at Staring Bay on the coast of the Celebes.[9]

Submarine Squadron 4 was disbanded on 10 March 1942, and Submarine Division 18 was assigned to the Kure Guard Unit in the Kure Naval District in Japanese home waters.[8][9] I-53, I-54, and I-55 departed Staring Bay on 16 March 1942 and arrived at Kure, Japan, on 25 March, where they assumed duties as training ships.[9][23][24] I-53 suffered minor damage when the submarine tender Chōgei grazed her in the Iyo Nada in the Seto Inland Sea on either 6 or 8 May 1942 (sources disagree on the date),[9] and on 20 May 1942 she was renumbered I-153.[9]

On 5 January 1943, I-153 took part in a Naval Submarine School submarine camouflage experiment in the Seto Inland Sea in which she and the submarine I-156 had a black camouflage scheme applied to their upper hulls and conning tower sides.[9] From 26 March to 1 December 1943, she served as flagship of Submarine Division 18.[9] She exchanged commanding officers with the submarine I-32 while moored at the submarine school at Kure on 10 January 1944.[9]

Submarine Division 18 was deactivated on 31 January 1944, and I-153 was placed in fourth reserve and transferred to the Hirao Branch of the Ōtake Submarine School to serve as a training hulk.[9] She was laid up at Hirao on 15 August 1945, the day hostilities between Japan and the Allies ceased.[9]