Yamashio Maru

Yamashiro Maru

Ship data flag  Japan class Yamashiro Maru class Shipyard Mitsubishi Launch December 2, 1944 Commissioning January 24, 1945 Whereabouts sunk by americ. Air raid on February 17, 1945

Ship dimensions and crew length 148 m ( Lüa ) width 20.15 m Draft Max. 9.02 m displacement Standard : 15,864 ts / 16,119 t   crew 221

Machine system machine 1 industrial turbine 2 steam boiler Machine performance 4,500 PS (3,310 kW) Top speed 15 kn (28 km / h) propeller 1

Armament 16 × 2.5 cm type 96 1 depth charge launcher with 120 depth charges 8 planes

The Yamashio Maru ( Japanese 山 汐 丸 ) was an escort aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Army , which was no longer used in World War II .

General

Due to the bad relations between the Japanese army and the navy , the army operated some of its own escort aircraft carriers as escort for their transport ship convoys.

The Yamashio Maru was one of the 2TL tankers built from 1943 onwards. Of these, three ships were to be converted into escort aircraft carriers for the Japanese army. But only the Yamashio Maru could be completed before the end of the war. The other two ships ( Chigusa Maru and Zuiun Maru ) were only completed for their originally planned purpose after the war.

Mission history

Yamashio Maru and the almost sunken target ship Ōsashi in 1946

The Yamashio Maru was completed on January 27, 1945, but not put into service. She was attacked by Task Force 58 carrier aircraft on February 17, 1945 in the port of Yokohama . The ship was hit directly by a 500 pound bomb and many unguided air-to-surface missiles . The stern was blown away by the bomb hit. It was classified as sunk, although it was still above water. The number of fatalities in the sinking is not known. On March 6, 1946, the target ship Ōsashi rammed the Yamashio Maru and sank (see picture). The ship was abandoned in Yokohama in 1947.

technology

hull

The hull of the Yamashio Maru was 148 meters long, 20.15 meters wide and had a draft of 9.02 meters with an operational displacement of 16,119 tons .

drive

It was driven by a geared turbine set with which an output of 4,500 hp (3,310 kW ) was achieved. This gave its power to a drive shaft with one screw each . The top speed was 15 knots (28 km / h ). The maximum travel distance was 9,000 nautical miles (16,668 km) at 13 knots.

crew

The crew had a strength of 221 men.

Flight deck and aircraft

The flight deck has a length of 107 meters. Since there was no hangar below the flight deck, aircraft had to be parked on the upper deck. Eight aircraft could be carried as aircraft equipment.

Armament

The armament consisted of sixteen 2.5 cm Type 96 anti-aircraft guns and a depth charge launcher with 120 depth charges .

See also

• List of Historic Aircraft Carriers (Japan)

literature

• Ingo Bauernfeind: Escort aircraft carrier: USA, England, Japan 1939–1945 . Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-613-03597-3 , p. 106-107 .
• Harald Fock: Fleet Chronicle - The active warships involved in the two world wars and their whereabouts . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-7822-0788-2 , p. 173-200 .
• Hansgeorg Jentschura, Dieter Jung, Peter Mickel: Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1869-1945 . US Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1977, ISBN 0-87021-893-X , pp. 62 .

Web links

Commons : Yamashio Maru class  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ YAMASHIO MARU: Tabular Record of Movement Homepage combinedfleet.com
2. ↑ SC 211765 YAMASHIO MARU (Japanese Aircraft Carrier, 1944) scuttled in Tokyo Bay in September 1945 Homepage Naval History and Heritage Command
3. ↑ Shizuo Fukui: Japanese Naval Vessels Illustrated, 1869-1945, Vol. 3: Aircraft Carriers, Seaplane Tenders & Torpedo Boat & Submarine Tenders , (Japanese) 1982