The only boat of the I-351 class ever completed was the I-351 herself. The plan was to build three boats and
three improved units, but only two were ever laid down. The second, I-352 was destroyed in a U.S. air raid on
Kure on June 22, 1945, the remaining boats were all cancelled.

These submarines were not designed for the traditional roll of a submarine, but rather to become fuel depots for seaplanes and transports for pilots. They were armed with four 21" torpedo tubes forward, but no reloads, the remaining spaces were used to store 365 tons of fuel and 390 tons of supplies, 11 tons of fresh water and 60 250kg bombs. The boats were slightly larger than the Gato class submarines of the U.S. Navy, being 363' long while the Gato was 311'. The displacement was up to 4,290 tons. submerged with a range of 13,000 miles surfaced.

On July 15, 1945 the I-351 was en route from Singapore to Sasebo, Japan carrying fuel and most of the men of the 936th Kokutai anti-submarine squadron. At this stage in the war Japan was returning people for the expected invasion of the home islands by Allied forces. However she was picked up on radar by the USS Blower SS-325 when she was near Borneo. Blower launched torpedoes, but missed. Her commander alerted the USS Bluefish SS-222, which was in the area and her commander, Cdr. George W. Forbes stalked the I-351 until he was in range and then fired a spread of four torpedoes sinking the boat, of the 113 men on board only three were recovered by Bluefish.