Akagi Maru
 The Akagi Maru shortly after its completion (around 1937).
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The Akagi Maru ( Japanese 赤城 丸 ) was a general cargo ship of the Japanese shipping company NYK ( Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha ) put into service shortly before the Second World War , which was converted into an auxiliary cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy at the beginning of the war in the Pacific and finally carried out in 1944 Enemy influence was lost. The cargo ship, also the type of ship and the namesake of the group consisting of three units Akagi Maru class was on 2 December 1935 on the Mitsubishi shipyard in Nagasaki laid on keel, expired in June 1936 of staple and finally on September 10, Commissioned for NYK in 1936. The ship's first captain was Kusano Kiyoshi.
Technical details
The Akagi Maru was 147.75 m long (maximum) and 18.98 m wide. Her average draft was 8.40 m, but could increase to 10.45 m when fully loaded (this value is also used in the adjacent information block). An 8-cylinder Mitsubishi Sulzer diesel engine with 8771 PSe that controlled a shaft enabled the ship (at a maximum of 118 revolutions per minute ) to reach a top speed of 18.9 knots (35 km / h), which made the Akagi Maru one made comparatively fast merchant ship. At an economical cruising speed of 15 knots (28 km / h) and with a full fuel supply (this amounted to around 2,500 tons of diesel oil ), the calculated sea endurance was around 36,000 nautical miles . To accommodate general cargo, the ship had five cargo hatches - two of them on the forecastle and three smaller ones aft of the main superstructure - and four cargo booms . The crew was 60 men.
As part of the conversion to an auxiliary cruiser in 1941, five older 15.2 cm Type 41 guns - these were previously stored naval cannons from 1908 - were installed individually, one 7.62 cm Type 88 anti-aircraft gun , two 7.7 mm light AA machine guns and a catapult as well as two Aichi E13A float planes on board; however, these reconnaissance machines were only on the ship from spring 1942. The crew of the auxiliary cruiser was about 380 men. In the course of the war, the Akagi Maru received two (or four?) 25-mm anti-aircraft guns of the Type 96 and two other machine guns until 1944 - probably in the spring of 1943 . During this time one came sonar system and Decoiler racks for up to twelve depth charges for installation. In addition, part of the cargo hold was furnished by inserting tween decks and installing companionways for troop transport. These conversion measures let the ship's water displacement increase to around 15,000 ts .
Service and deployment time
The freighter, with a speed of over 18 knots, was to be used primarily on routes to Europe and South America.
Pre-war period
After its commissioning and the end of testing, the Akagi Maru began voyages to Europe from the summer of 1937, with the maiden voyage taking the ship to Liverpool and Hamburg . These trips were completed until the summer of 1939. After the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 and the beginning of the fighting in Europe, the freighter was preferably only used on the Pacific routes between Japan and Central and South America from autumn 1939 . Here, the running Akagi Maru among other Manzanillo , Panama City and Valparaiso in Chile.
In the run-up to the war in the Pacific , the freighter was finally requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy on November 23, 1941 and, after almost three weeks of renovation, put into service as an auxiliary cruiser at the Hitachi shipyard in Osaka on December 10, 1941 . The commander of the ship, which now had a crew of almost 400 men, was Kaigun-Taisa Sakuma Masao ( 作 間 応 雄 ).
Use in World War II
At the beginning of the Pacific War and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , the Akagi Maru belonged to the Kure Marine District and from January 1942 was the 22nd auxiliary cruiser squadron (under Kaigun-Shōshō Horiuchi Shigenori ( 堀 内 茂 礼 )), which also had the two sister ships Asaka Maru and Awata Maru were assigned. Until June 1943, the ship was mostly used for patrol and supply tasks in the northern coastal waters of Japan and shuttled between Yokosuka , Kushiro , Akkeshi , the Kuril Islands and the Marcus Island, among others . In March 1943 , the Akagi Maru transported around 3000 soldiers and 18 light Type 95 tanks of the 5th Mixed Brigade from Yokosuka to Kashiwabara on the Kuriles. In March 1943, Kaigun-Taisa Kurosaki Rinzō ( 黒 崎 林 蔵 ) was also a new commander on board.
After the situation for Japan in the southwestern Pacific region had deteriorated - especially after the end of the fighting for Guadalcanal and the start of the Allied offensive against the Solomon Islands - the auxiliary cruiser was used for supply trips in this region and in the western Pacific from the summer of 1943.
In the winter of 1943/44, the ship also carried around 2200 soldiers of the 5th Independent Mixed Regiment and the 16th Panzer Regiment, 18 Type 95 tanks, six 7.5 cm field guns and eight light 3.7 mms on two different voyages -cm-Pak after wake . After the Akagi Maru barely escaped a torpedo attack by the US submarine Sturgeon on January 16, 1944 while attempting a new voyage to Wake off Sukumo , these increasingly risky voyages were completely stopped. The Akagi Maru had been the last Japanese surface warship to reach Wake Island during the war.
After the start of the US offensive against the Marshall Islands (see Operation Flintlock ) at the end of January 1944, the Akagi Maru , together with the auxiliary cruiser Aikoku Maru , the large submarine support ship Yasukuni Maru and three destroyers , went on a supply mission after the Japanese base Truk detached to reinforce the garrison there. This convoy left Tateyama at the end of January and, after the Yasukuni Maru (11,933 GRT) fell victim to an attack by the US submarine Trigger on the way, met on 1/2. February 1944 in Truk. There the Akagi Maru was finally surprised by the US attack on the atoll on February 17, 1944 .
Fall of the Akagi Maru
In the morning hours of February 17, 1944, the Akagi Maru left the Truk lagoon together with the light cruiser Katori - although this was only a school cruiser with a speed of almost 18 knots - the mine sweeper Shonan Maru and two security destroyers. This convoy (convoy No. 4215) was supposed to transport around 2800 soldiers as part of a move from Truk to Yokosuka . On board the auxiliary cruiser were 512 soldiers and a total of 788 (or 797?) Members of the Navy.
Shortly after passing the northern exit of the atoll, the formation was attacked at around 5:00 a.m. by F6F Hellcat fighters and TBF Avenger torpedo bombers from the surprisingly first US attack wave, with the Katori and a destroyer being damaged. The slightly standing behind the convoy Akagi Maru remained unmolested, but was (of machines of the US carrier running at 7:30 am in a renewed attack Yorktown , Essex and Cabot of a 227-kilogram bomb before) bridge made. The damage was considerable, but the ship remained operational for the time being and continued its voyage. The sporadic attacks dragged on for almost two hours. Between 9:10 and 9:54 a.m., however, two more 227-kilogram bombs hit the auxiliary cruiser behind the superstructure, roughly level with the rear cargo hold no. 5. These two hits caused severe fires and led to a series of fuel and ammunition explosions . Since the machinery also failed and the ship began to drift incapable of maneuvering, the order was given at 10:30 a.m. to abandon the Akagi Maru . The majority of the people on board were then recovered from the already damaged Katori and the burning auxiliary cruiser was sunk at 10:47 a.m. by the security destroyer Nowaki with a torpedo shot.
How many people could be rescued from board the auxiliary cruiser is not exactly certain. However Meanwhile, the cruiser was Katori , who had taken the survivors, even around 15:30 and around 40 nautical miles northwest sunk by Truk - including by shelling of the US battleship Iowa - where all previously rescued survivors from the Akagi Maru death found. Although a large number of survivors were observed in the water after the training cruiser sank, the US ships did not attempt to rescue them.
As a result, there were no survivors of the 1,300 or so people on board the auxiliary cruiser. The Akagi Maru's last in command , Kaigun-Taisa Kurosaki, was later posthumously appointed Rear Admiral. The ship itself was removed from the ship register on March 31, 1944.
literature
- Anthony Watts: Japanese Warships of World War II. Ian Allan, London 1966.
- Maru Magazine: Japanese Naval Operations in WW II. (Maru Specials Nos. 92-111), Maruzen, Tokyo 1984/1986.
Web links
- History of the ship at combinedfleet.com (English)
- The Akagi Maru at the Wrecksite-Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Note: This is an estimate. Before the conversion to an auxiliary cruiser, the water displacement was around 13,000 ts .
- ↑ Incorrectly read as Sakkan Oyu in the Combined Fleet source .
- ↑ combinedfleet.com
- ↑ combinedfleet.com
