The USS Ranger (CV-4) passes through the Panama Canal shortly after the end of World War II, in October 1945. In the final days of World War II, Japan considered an air raid on the Panama Canal using submarine-based aircraft, but the plan was never implemented. (US Navy)

Can You Put Airplanes Inside a Submarine? Japan Tried It Once

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A few World War II-era submarines had small waterproof hangars for floatplanes, but the concept itself largely failed to take off.

A “submarine aircraft carrier” sounds like something out of a James Bond film—an enormous platform that surfaces from the depths, before unveiling a flight deck of aircraft for villainous ends.

In reality, whenever “submarine aircraft carriers” have actually been tested, they have been far simpler in design. It is possible to fit a single disassembled aircraft into a submarine, then dive with the aircraft aboard—only to reassemble it and launch it from a catapult some time later. The plane in question helps to extend the submarine’s situational awareness, giving it a better sense of where its targets are and warning against potential threats such as enemy aircraft. A sufficiently large aircraft could even carry out bombings or other combat missions on the submarine’s behalf.

Several real-world navies have experimented with submarine-launched aircraft. The concept reached its high point during World War II, when Imperial Japan built a handful of enormous I-400 submarines, which could carry three attack aircraft across long distances. Japan even designed plans to use submarine-launched aircraft against the........

© The National Interest