SS Nichiryu Maru

History
Name
  • Rozan Maru (1919–1931)
  • Karafuto Maru (1931–1937)
  • Nichiryu Maru (1937–1943)
Owner
BuilderAsano Ship Building Company, Tsurumi
Launched1919
CompletedMay 1919
FateSunk by Australian aircraft on 6 January 1943
General characteristics
Tonnage5,870 GRT
Length400 feet (122 m)[1]
Beam53 feet (16 m)
Draught29.4 feet (9.0 m)
PropulsionTriple expansion engines (513 NHP)

The Nichiryu Maru (Nitiryu Maru) was a 5,447 gross register ton cargo ship built by Asano Ship Building Company, Tsurumi in 1919 as Rozan Maru. She was the third ship of the Yoshida Maru No 1-class of 25 standard cargo ships (referred to as Type B at the time) built by Asano Shipyard (one was built at the Uraga Dock Company) between 1918 and 1919.[2] In April 1929, she was acquired by Karafuto Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha and in 1931, renamed Karafuto Maru.[3] On 22 November 1937, she was acquired by Nissan Kissen Kabushiki Kaisha and renamed Nichiryu Maru.[3] She was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

Fate

On 6 January 1943, while steaming as part of a convoy, carrying two companies of the 3rd Battalion, 102nd Infantry Regiment and medical supplies for the garrison at Lae, was hit by bombs from a Royal Australian Air Force PBY Catalina aircraft, and was sunk at 06°30'S, 149°00'E. Destroyers rescued 739 of the 1,100 troops on board, but the ship took with it 361 soldiers and all of Okabe's medical supplies.

Notes

  1. ^ "Lloyd's Register 1942–43" (PDF). plimsollshipdata. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  2. ^ Nagasawa, Fumio (1998). "第一吉田丸型 YOSHIDA MARU No.1 Class 25隻 (1918-1919)". Nostalgic Japanese Steamships (in Japanese).
  3. ^ a b Nagasawa, Fumio (1998). "櫨山丸 ROZAN MARU (1919)". Nostalgic Japanese Steamships (in Japanese).