I-19 was a Type B1 submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Mitsubishi built her at Kobe. She was launched on 16 September 1939 and commissioned on 28 April 1941.
On 7 December 1941, during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, I-19 was on the patrol line off Oahu. Her station that day kept her outside the harbor.
On 15 September 1942, southeast of Guadalcanal, she fired one spread of torpedoes that struck three ships: Wasp, the destroyer O'Brien, and North Carolina.
Two torpedoes, and possibly a third, hit Wasp in the gasoline tanks and magazines. Lansdowne scuttled her. Wasp went down by the bow around 2100 that evening.
One torpedo from the same spread hit O'Brien in the bow. The destroyer stayed afloat, and her whole crew later got clear. On 19 October 1942, on the way to Pearl Harbor, she broke up and sank.
An 890-pound warhead from I-19 struck North Carolina below the armor belt abreast Turret I. The hole measured about 32 by 18 feet. She took a 5½-degree list and remained afloat.
USS Radford depth-charged I-19 on 25 November 1943, about 50 miles west of Makin. The submarine was lost with all hands. Her name was struck on 1 April 1944.