The Type C submarines were derived from the earlier KD6 sub-class of the Kaidai class with a heavier torpedo armament for long-range attacks.

[4] At 02:15 on 19 November 1941, the five submarines got underway from Kamegakubi bound for the Hawaiian Islands,[4] taking a direct route that took them south of Midway Atoll.

19 surfaced at around 08:00 and ran aground on a reef, where the United States Navy destroyer USS Helm (DD-388) sighted her.

[4] Knocked unconscious in the surf, Sakamaki washed ashore at Waimanalo Beach on the east coast of Oahu on 8 December 1941 and was captured, becoming the first Japanese prisoner-of-war of World War II.

[4] On 18 January 1942, they departed their patrol areas, and I-18 and I-24 received orders to bombard Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Unknown to them, the U.S. submarine USS Gudgeon (SS-211) had received Ultra intelligence information alerting her to their activities and routes.

[4] She did not sight any of them, but while searching for them she encountered and sank the submarine I-73, which was following the same route, 240 nautical miles (440 km; 280 mi) west of Midway on 27 January 1942.

[4][6] During their voyage, 16 United States Army Air Forces B-25 Mitchell bombers launched by the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) struck targets on Honshu in the Doolittle Raid on 18 April 1942.

[6] The detachment received orders that day to divert from its voyage and head east-northeast at flank speed to intercept the U.S. Navy task force that had launched the strike, but the orders were canceled on 19 April and the submarines resumed their voyage to Truk, which they reached on 24 April 1942.

[6] On 30 April 1942, I-22, I-24, I-28, and I-29 got underway from Truk to form a patrol line southwest of Guadalcanal in support of Operation MO, a planned Japanese invasion of Tulagi in the Solomon Islands and Port Moresby on New Guinea.

[4] As the battle continued, the four Japanese submarines arrived in their assigned areas and formed their patrol line on 5 May 1942.

[4] On the day she arrived at Truk, I-24 embarked a Type A midget submarine delivered by the seaplane tender Chiyoda.

[4] Assigned to a Special Attack Unit along with her fellow midget-submarine mother ships I-22 and I-27 and the seaplane-carrying submarines I-21 and I-29 — each of them with an embarked Yokosuka E14Y1 (Allied reporting name "Glen") floatplane — she got underway in company with I-24 and I-27 on 18 May 1942 bound for Sydney, Australia, to launch a midget submarine attack against ships in Sydney Harbour.

[4] On 19 May 1942, when she surfaced to charge her batteries and conduct maintenance work on her midget submarine, the midget′s two-man crew smelled a strong scent of chlorine when they entered their craft, and when its enlisted crewman turned on a light, a large explosion occurred which blew him overboard and severely burned the midget′s commander.

At 22:07 on 31 May, all ships in the harbor were alerted to the presence of Japanese submarines, and Chicago opened fire on M17 with her antiaircraft guns.

[4] At dusk on 3 June, I-24 was on the surface recharging her batteries east of Sydney, 35 nautical miles (65 km; 40 mi) southeast of Norah Head, when she sighted the Australian 4,734-gross register ton coastal steamer Age.

[4] About 90 minutes later while 27 nautical miles (50 km; 31 mi) east of Sydney, I-24 fired two torpedoes at the Australian 4,812-ton merchant ship Iron Chieftain, which was on a voyage from Newcastle, New South Wales, to Whyalla, South Australia, with a cargo of coke and shipyard materials.

[4] The only shell that exploded leveled part of a house in Sydney′s eastern suburbs, and duds caused some minor additional damage.

[4] She scored only one hit and, seeing no sign of a fire breaking out about Orestes, I-24′s commanding officer decided to abandon the pursuit.

[4] On the morning of 13 September 1942, a Kawanishi H8K (Allied reporting name "Emily") flying boat reported a U.S. task force consisting of one aircraft carrier, two battleships, and two destroyers steaming north 343 nautical miles (635 km; 395 mi) east-southeast of Guadalcanal, and I-24 received orders to form a patrol line with the submarines I-9, I-15, I-17, I-21, I-26, I-31, and I-33 in attempt to intercept the U.S. ships, but they did not succeed.

[4] During the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, which lasted from 25 to 27 October 1942, I-24 patrolled west of the Indispensable Strait as part of the "B" Group with I-9, I-15, I-21, and the submarines I-174 and I-175.

12 — which Chiyoda had delivered to the anchorage— and its two-man crew, and on 4 November she departed in company with I-16 bound for the Indispensable Strait off Guadalcanal.

10, a midget submarine launched by I-16, had torpedoed her on 28 November 1942 while Alchiba was on a voyage from Nouméa, New Caledonia, to Guadalcanal with a cargo of aviation gasoline, bombs, and ammunition.

[4] On her first run, she delivered 25 tons of food and ammunition and evacuated 79 Imperial Japanese Army soldiers at Buna on 11 January 1943.

[4] She next called at Buna on 18 January, dropping off 20 tons of cargo and evacuating 58 soldiers and the battle flag of the 144th (Kochi) Infantry Division.

[4] She called at Buna for the last time on 10 February 1943, unloading 16 tons of cargo and bringing aboard 71 soldiers.

[4] On her last New Guinea supply run, she visited Lae on 17 February 1943, delivered 38.5 tons of cargo and evacuated 64 soldiers.

[7] On 21 May, I-24 was assigned to the Northern District Force in the 5th Fleet for service in Aleutian waters, and that day she departed Kure bound for the Kuril Islands, where she called at Paramushiro.

[4] She got back underway on 30 May 1943 for Attu, where she hoped to bring aboard survivors of the Japanese garrison at Chichagof Harbor.

[4] On 11 June 1943, the U.S. Navy patrol craft USS PC-487 detected I-24 first on sonar, then on radar, and finally visually in heavy fog in the Bering Sea north-northeast of Shemya Island, noting that I-24 had both her periscopes up, apparently because of the very poor visibility.