RIKUGUN YUSOSEN

(BORDEAUX MARU, prewar)

IJA/IJN BORDEAUX MARU:
Tabular Record of Movement

© 2012-2015 Bob Hackett


22 April 1922:
Kobe. Laid down at Kawasaki Dockyard Co. K. K. as Yard No, 483, a 6,567-ton passenger-cargo ship for Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line) K. K. of Kobe.

31 July 1923:
Launched and named named BORDEAUX MARU.

20 December 1923:
Completed and placed on K Line's westbound Around-the-World service.

March 1927:
Transferred to K Line’s North Pacific Express Line.

8July 1930:
Arrives at San Franscisco, California.

27 August 1933:
Arrives at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

December 1934:
Transferred to K Lines’s Central and South America route.

December 1938: Sino-Japanese War:
Requisitioned by the Imperial Army (IJA) and converted to a troop transport. Assigned IJN No. 718.

9 July 1941
Released back to her owners by the IJA.That same day, she is requisitioned by the Imperial Navy (IJN)s as B-AK.

8 December 1941:
The Pacific War begins.

1 February 1942: American Air Raid on Kwajalein, Marshall Islands:
Vice Admiral (later Fleet Admiral) William F. Halsey Jr’s (USNA ’04) Task Force 8 (USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6) raids Kwajalein and Wotje in the Marshall Islands. ENTERPRISE’s Douglas “Dauntless” SBDs of VB-6 and VS-6 and TBD “Devastators” of VT-6 sink BORDEAUX MARU. Two crewmen and a gunner are KIA.Gunboat TOYOTSU MARU and auxiliary net-layer KASHIMA MARU are also sunk.

The planes also damage light cruiser KATORI, flagship of the Sixth Fleet, oiler TOA MARU, oiler HOYO MARU, submarine depot ship YASUKUNI MARU, submarine I-23 and other important ships.

1 March 1942:
Released back to her owners by the IJN.


Author's Note:
Thanks go to Erich Muehlthaler of Germany.

Bob Hackett


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