The
Type L submarines were divided into four classes: • • • •
Type L1 (Ro-51-class) In 1916, the
Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Corporation got the Vickers
L class submarine informations. Mitsubishi which lost competition to the
Kawasaki's
Type F submarines (
Fiat-
Laurenti design,
Ro-1 class and
Ro-3 class), bought the license for the
L class submarine from Vickers. The IJN hoped an improvement of submarine technologies will be achieved and ordered this submarine from Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi bought six submarine kits, and built two boats by semi-knock down. The submarine crews were satisfied with the Vickers diesels because they proved to be reliable. The IJN studied the
diesel engines and made many variants of similar design, for example:
Kampon Mk.24 diesel for the
Ro-100 class. • Boats in class
Type L2 (Ro-53-class) The
Type L2 had minor changes from the
Type L1. The changes were: • The ship's side torpedo tubes were removed. • Changed the batteries. (The
L1 was equipped 3 groups, 336 small-sized batteries. The
L2 was equipped 2 groups, 224 medium-sized batteries.) • Boats in class
Type L3 (Ro-57-class) The
Type L3 is a license production model of the British
L class submarine Group 2. • Boats in class
Type L4 (Ro-60-class) The
Type L4 is a license production model of the British
L class submarine Group 3. Their performance was good. The IJN was satisfied with them and stopped the development of
Kaichū type submarines for a long time. Later the IJN was not able to regain the technical delay in development of the medium-sized submarines until the end of the
Pacific War. • Boats in class ==Characteristics==