page_title: Yokosuka E6Y
section_title: Operational history
hierarchical_section_title: Yokosuka E6Y / Operational history
caption_attribution_description: English: Japanese Submarine I-5 (JUNSEN-class, type I new), comleted July 31, 1932. 日本語: 日本海軍巡潜I型改「伊号第5潜水艦」、竣工後
context_page_description: The Yokosuka E6Y was a Japanese submarine-based reconnaissance seaplane developed at the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the 1920s. The prototype first flew as the Yokosho 2-Go in 1929.
  The aircraft was a single-seat biplane that could be quickly assembled and disassembled so that it could be stored on board a submarine. Two prototypes were built that differed in power plant and design details. Eight production machines followed with the designation E6Y built by Kawanishi in the 1930s and served with the Japanese submarine aircraft carriers I-5, I-6, I-7 and I-8. They saw limited action during the January 28 incident and the Second Sino-Japanese War, the last example being retired in 1943.
context_section_description: The Navy took delivery of the 2-Go in May 1929 and initially tested it aboard the submarine I-51. Testing was completed by September 1931. The 2-Go Kai commenced testing in 1931 initially also on board I-51 and then subsequently the Junsen I Mod type submarine I-5. I-5 was not fitted with a hangar, but rather the aircraft was disassembled and stored in two cylindrical containers, one for the fuselage and the other for the wings, stored on the deck. Launch was initially from the water, but a catapult was fitted to I-5 in 1933 and this was found more satisfactory. All subsequent Japanese aircraft-carrying submarines used catapults.
  The first production E6Y entered service in 1933, and the eight aircraft were deployed to the three Junsen II and III submarines, I-6, I-7 and I-8. The aircraft also saw surface ship use. They saw limited service during the January 28 incident in 1932, providing reconnaissance, and subsequently there are reports that they served on submarines that operated during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Between 1937 and 1938, submarines I-5 and I6 were assigned to the Third Fleet (China Theatre Fleet) based at Hong Kong to patrol and blockade the central and southern Chinese coasts. As the Japanese Navy introduced larger aircraft carrying submarines, the E6Y was superseded by the Watanabe E9W. The last example retired in 1943.
caption: The submarine I-5, which carried the E6Y
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