© 2009-2014 Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall
25 September 1944:
Tsurumi, Yokohama. Laid down at Nippon Kokan K. K.’s shipyard.
15 November 1944:
Reserve LtCdr Aoyanagi Shiro is appointed Chief Equipping Officer.
22 November 1944:
Launched and numbered CD-59.
2 February 1945:
CD-59 is commissioned and registered in the IJN. Attached to Kure Naval District. LtCdr Aoyanagi is the Commanding Officer.
27 March 1945:
ComKure Guard Unit's Rear Admiral Kiyota Takahiko (42) dispatches the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Sweeping Units to conduct an offensive sweep in the Hyuga Nada and Osumi Channel to provide anti-submarine cover for the planned sortie of battleship YAMATO and her escorts. The surface units are
supported by eight Magnetic Anamoly Dectector (MAD) equipped Aichi E13A1 Jakes and Kyushu Q1W1 Lornas from the Saeki Naval
Air Group. MIKURA and CD-33 are detached from their unit to participate in the
sweep, departing Saeki with the 3rd Sweeping Unit. CD-59 is the flagship.
28 March 1945:
SW of Shikoku. At 1027, one of the ASW planes detects a
contact and directs the 3rd Sweeping Unit to that area. After 1300, CD-59,
CD-33, MIKURA and possibly others conduct several attacks on a submarine with
Type 3 streamlined depth-charges. After two hours, a large amount of oil and
debris is sighted in the area of 32-16N, 132-05E. [1]
28 April 1945:
At 0600, CD-59 departs Moji for Shanghai with kaibokan OJIKA and INAGI escorting convoy MOSHI-05 consisting of MIHO MARU. At 2000, that same day, the convoy arrives at Chinkai, South Korea.
29 April 1945:
At 0500, departs Chinkai.
30 April 1945:
At 1408, LtCdr Allen R. Faust’s USS TREPANG (SS-412) torpedoes and sinks MIHO MARU. The kaibokan counter-attack and drop 27 depth charges, but USS TREPANG escapes undamaged. The escorts head towards Shanghai.
1 May 1945:
At 1300, OJIKA reports her position as 33-20N, 122-15E, course 040, speed 14 knots.
2 May 1945:
Yellow Sea. That night, LtCdr Russell Kefauver’s USS SPRINGER (SS-414) attacks a ship and two escorts. Kefauver fires a spread of four torpedoes. USS SPRINGER's crew hears the first explode and then see and hears two more hits which sink OJIKA with all 226 crewmen.
3 May 1945:
At 1014, USN codebreakers intercept and decrypt a message that reads: “Summary of disaster to OJIKA: OJIKA and CD-59 were on station abeam this ship distant 1.5 kilometers proceeding on course 240 degrees. ----about 5 minutes after CD-59 had picked up something resembling an enemy submarine and was observing it, OJIKA was seen to open fire. A few seconds later there was an explosion and a pillar of fire --- and sank. At 0930, oil and debris were seen to the northeast of the disaster ---.”
15 August 1945:
Japan accepts the Allies “Potsdam Declaration” (of unconditional surrender) and hostilities cease.
5 October 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.
21 October 1945:
Departs Hakata on her first repatriation voyage. Later that day arrives and then departs Pusan, South Korea.
22 October 1945:
Arrives at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.
26 October 1945 :
Departs Hakata and later that day arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and then departs.
27 October 1945:
Arrives at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.
30 October 1945:
Departs Hakata.
31 October 1945:
Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and then departs, arriving back at Hakata that night. Disembarks troops and passengers.
1 November 1945:
Departs Hakata.
2 November 1945:
Arrives at Pusan.
3 November 1945:
Departs Pusan.
4 November 1945:
Arrives at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers and departs later that day.
5 November 1945:
Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and then departs later that day arriving back at Hakata that evening.
9 November 1945:
Departs Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.
10 November 1945:
Arrives at Pusan Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and then departs the same day.
11 November 1945:
Arrives at Senzaki. Disembarks troops and passengers.
12 November 1945:
Departs Hakata.
13 November 1945:
Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and then departs later the same day.
14 November 1945:
Arrives at Senzaki. Disembarks troops and passengers.
15 November 1945:
Departs Senzaki.
16 November 1945:
Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and then departs later the same day.
17 November 1945:
Arrives at Senzaki. Disembarks troops and passengers.
18 November 1945:
Departs Senzaki.
19 November 1945:
Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and then departs later the same day.
20 November 1945:
Arrives at Senzaki. Disembarks troops and passengers.
1 December 1945:
Departs Hakata. That same day, CD-59 is officially assigned to the Allied Repatriation Service. [2]
2 December 1945 :
Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and then departs arriving that evening back at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.
3 December 1945:
Departs Senzaki.
4 December 1945:
Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and departs arriving that evening back at Senzaki. Disembarks troops and passengers.
6 December 1945:
Departs Hakata.
7 December 1945:
Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and departs arriving that evening back at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.
15 December 1945:
Departs Hakata.
16 December 1945:
Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and departs.
17 December 1945:
Arrives at Senzaki. Disembarks troops and passengers and departs later that day.
18 December 1945:
Arrives at Pusan. Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and departs.
19 December 1945:
Arrives at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.
26 December 1945 :
Docked at Maizuru for repairs.
9 January 1946:
Undocked. Repairs are completed.
15 January 1946:
Departs Hakata.
16 January 1946 :
Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and departs later that day.
17 January 1945:
Arrives at Sasebo. Disembarks troops and passengers and then enters drydock.
23 January 1946:
Undocked and sails to Kure where she undergoes further repairs
.
10 March 1946:
Kure. Repairs completed.
17 March 1946:
Departs Hakata.
18 March 1946:
Arrives at Pusan. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and departs later that day.
21 January 1946:
Arrives at Shanghai and departs later that day.
24 March 1946:
Arrives at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.
30 July 1946:
Kure. CD-59 collides with the hulk of battleship HYUGA and sinks.
1947:
Kure. CD-59 is raised and scrapped.
9 November 1947:
Scrapping is completed.
Authors' Note:
[1] It is possible the submarine was Cdr David R. Connole’s USS TRIGGER (SS-237), lost with all 89 hands; however, no official report has ever been released with details of the date, place and cause of USS TRIGGER's loss.
[2] Allied occupation forces were responsible for the return of six million Japanese military personnel and civilians from Japan's defunct far-flung Empire. In addition, there were over a million Korean and about 40,000 Chinese prisoners and conscript laborers and approximately 7,000 Formosans and 15,000 Ryukyu Islanders to be repatriated.
Some Allied and many former IJN warships, from aircraft carriers to kaibokan, were used to facilitate the enormous repatriation effort. Japanese vessels and crews were used to the fullest extent possible to conserve Allied manpower and accelerate demobilization. Each ex-IJN ship first had to be demilitarized; guns removed or, in the case of large warships, barrels severed, ammunition landed, and radar and catapults removed, if fitted. Repatriation of the Chinese on Japanese ships began early in October from Hakata, but U.S. guard detachments had to be placed on many ships to prevent disorder because the Japanese crews could not control the returnees.
Japanese-run repatriation centers were established at Kagoshima, Hario near Sasebo, and Hakata near Fukuoka. Other reception centers were established and operated at Maizuru, Shimonoseki, Sasebo, Senzaki, Kure, Uraga, Yokohama, Moji and Hakodate. Allied line and medical personnel supervised the centers. Incoming Japanese were sprayed with DDT, examined and inoculated for typhus and smallpox, provided with food, and transported to his final destination in Japan.
Thanks go to the late John Whitman of the USA for info on CNO intercepts of Japanese messages, Mr. Matt Jones of Ohio, USA and Mr. Gilbert Casse of France.
-Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall
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