Constructed for use during World War II, she served in the waters of the Japanese archipelago In the final two years of World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army constructed transport submarines — officially the Type 3 submergence transport vehicle and known to the Japanese Army as the Maru Yu — with which to supply its isolated island garrisons in the Pacific.

The Yu I type was produced in four subclasses, each produced by a different manufacturer and differing primarily in the design of their conning towers and details of their gun armament.

[4] Yu 3003 spent her operational career in Japanese home waters.

[4] Surviving records of the activities of Imperial Japanese Army submarines are fragmentary,[2][5] and no records have been discovered describing her specific activities in support of any particular operation.

[1][4] World War II ended with the cessation of hostilities[3] on 15 August 1945.