The submarine's crew was ordered to enter Pearl Harbor, attack the moored American warships with its two torpedoes and then scuttle her with explosives.

However, the crew was unable to enter the harbor due to navigational difficulties, and the submarine ran aground and was captured by American forces.

19 was part of the Kido Butai, carried by the Type C cruiser submarine I-24, its mother ship, from the Kamegakubi Naval Proving Ground.

Its two-man crew consisted of Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki and Chief warrant officer Kiyoshi Inagaki.

The crew had four-and-a-half hours to reach Pearl Harbor, and attempted to fix the compass en route.

With the main attack underway, the stranded submarine was spotted at 08:17 by the destroyer USS Helm.

Inagaki dived the submarine, and when he resurfaced at 08:19, the destroyer spotted her again and fired, missing but blasting HA.

19 was depth charged, which disabled her ability to fire the other torpedo and damaged the periscope.

Sakamaki ordered Inagaki to abandon ship while he set the explosive scuttling charge and followed suit.

19 was built to be disassembled into three parts, and this characteristic was utilized to dismantle her without destroying the vessel.

She was transported to the Naval Submarine Base Pearl Harbor and examined, yielding technical data and various documents.

19 was moved to Fredericksburg, Texas to become part of the National Museum of the Pacific War at the Admiral Nimitz State Historic Site.