Upon her return to Japan in July 1942, she became a training ship until early 1945 when she was modified to serve as a carrier for kaiten manned suicide attack torpedoes.

[5] I-58 returned to active service on 1 December 1936,[5][6] and that day Submarine Division 19 was reassigned to the Kure Naval District.

[5] Tragedy struck while I-58 was on night maneuvers south of Tokyo Bay on 26 August 1940, taking part in simulated attacks against Combined Fleet capital ships with her ballast tanks partially flooded.

[5][6] Tasked with supporting Operation E, the Japanese invasion of British Malaya, I-58 proceeded to her patrol area in the South China Sea off the Malayan Peninsula.

[6] Shortly after midnight on 10 December 1941, however, I-58 was running on the surface in the South China Sea 140 nautical miles (260 km; 160 mi) east of Kuantan, British Malaya, when her lookouts spotted Force Z only 660 yards (600 m) off her port bow, with Prince of Wales in the lead.

[6] I-58 crash-dived and attempted to fire a full six-torpedo salvo from her bow torpedo tubes at Prince of Wales in what would have been the first attack on an enemy battleship in history by an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine, but the first torpedo tube's outer door jammed, spoiling the attack.

[6] She transmitted a report that Force Z was proceeding south-southwest at 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) and continued to track the British ships.

[6] At 06:15 on 10 December 1941, I-58 lost contact with Force Z, but torpedo bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy′s 22nd Air Flotilla flying from bases in Japanese-occupied French Indochina sank both Prince of Wales and Repulse in the South China Sea that afternoon.

[6] In the Java Sea northwest of Bawean Island at 01:45 on 3 January 1942, I-58 hit the Dutch 7,395-gross register ton merchant ship SS Langkoeas – which had departed Surabaya on 1 January 1942 bound for Haifa in Mandatory Palestine with a cargo of sugar[19] – with one torpedo in her engine room, killing 12 men there,[20] then sank her with gunfire at 05°S 112°E / 5°S 112°E / -5; 112 (SS Langkoeas).

[5][6] One of Langkoeas′s lifeboats was destroyed by I-58′s gunfire before it could be launched,[21] but her surviving crew of 79 men abandoned ship in her other three whaleboats,[6] one of which accidentally was dropped into the sea from a height of 20 feet (6.1 m), swamping it and casting many of its occupants overboard.

[23] Seventy-nine men died in the machine-gunning of the three lifeboats,[20] but I-58′s crew pulled three survivors from the water,[6][24] one of whom had clung to one of the submarine′s diving planes.

[6][20] They were driven to Bawean's capital Sangkapoera,[20] from which a Netherlands Naval Aviation Service Catalina flying boat flew them to Java – Batavia[20] or Surabaya,[6] according to different sources – where they were hospitalized.

[5][6] On 25 February 1942, I-58 attacked the Dutch 7,135-gross register ton merchant ship SS Boeroe — making a voyage to Perth, Australia — in the Indian Ocean south of the Sunda Strait, opening gunfire on her at 10:15.

[6] On 26 May 1942, I-158 departed Kwajalein to conduct her fourth war patrol, operating in support of Operation MI, the planned Japanese invasion of Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, in which Submarine Squadron 5 formed part of the Advance Expeditionary Force.

[32] After the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, ordered Komatsu to interpose his submarines between the retreating Japanese fleet and the opposing United States Navy aircraft carriers,[32] the Japanese submarines, including I-158, began a gradual movement to the north-northwest, moving at 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph) by day and 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) after dark.

[5][6] I-158 assumed duties as a training ship at the Kure Submarine School that day, continuing in that role until March 1945.

[6] During December 1943, I-158 was painted in an experimental light gray camouflage scheme based on that of the German submarine U-511, which Japan had purchased from Germany in 1943 and renamed Ro-500.

[6] I-158 participated in the first stage of Submarine School tests of the paint scheme in the Iyo Nada in the Seto Inland Sea on 5 January 1944 to determine its value in the waters around Japan, the effectiveness of the camouflage pattern against detection by surface warships and aircraft, its ability to confuse enemy forces attempting to determine the submarine's course and speed, and the durability of the paint.

[6] While under repair after the air raid, I-158 was equipped with fittings to carry two kaiten manned suicide attack torpedoes.

[6] During July 1945, the crews of I-156, I-157, I-158, I-159, and I-162 underwent training in launching kaiten against enemy ships in the event of an invasion of Japan.

[6] The Commander, Naval Activities, Japan, U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Robert H. Griffin, came aboard I-158 to inspect her in March 1946.