YUSOSEN!
(Standard 2AT Tanker KENJO MARU by Ueda Kihachiro)
DAITO MARU
Tabular Record of Movement
© 2012 Bob Hackett
Revision 1
1944:
Koyagishima. Laid down at the Kawaminami Kogyo K. K. shipyard as a 6,850-ton Type 2A Standard Cargo Ship for Osaka Shosen K.K. (OSK), Osaka.
1944:
Converted on the ways to a Standard 2AT Tanker.
1944:
Launched and named DAITO MARU
26 September 1944:
Completed.
3 November 1944:
DAITO MARU departs Moji in convoy MI-25 also
consisting of tankers ATAGO, DAIRETSU, RYUSHO, GYOSHIN, DAISHU, DAIEI and
YAMAMURA MARUs and YUZAN MARU No. 2 and KACHAOSAN, NIKKO, DAIA, DAISHU,
AKAGISAN, NICHIYO, KENSEI, HINAGA, TATSUTAMA and SHOEI MARUs and four
unidentified ships escorted by CD-23, CD-33, CD-51, CD-52 and CD-130.
8 November 1944:
KACHAOSAN and NIKKO MARUs and the four unidentified
ships are detached for Formosan ports. Another ship later is detached for Mako.
Thirteen ships remain in the convoy.
15 November 1944:
18 km SE of Cap Padaran, Indochina. At 0100, LtCdr
Albert S. Fuhrman's USS JACK (SS-259) torpedoes HINAGA MARU and YUZAN MARU No. 2
at 11-16N 108-54E. The former sinks immediiately, the latter is run aground and
later becomes a total loss.
16 November 1944:
At 1600, arrives at St Jacques. All except GYOSHIN
MARU and ATAGO MARU kaibokan CD-33, CD-52 and CD-130 are detached. They head to
Miri, but DAISHU MARU and the remainder of the convoy are diverted to Singapore.
20 December 1944:
At 1000, DAITO MARU departs Cape St. Jacques,
Indochina for Takao and Moji in convoy SATA-04 consisting of YAMAMURA, OJIKASAN,
DAIRETSU and DAIEI MARUs and an unidentified ship escorted by kaibokan CD-14,
CD-16 and CD-46.
24 December 1944:
At 0100, the convoy arrives at Batangan Bay. CD-9
and CD-32 join the escort.
30 December 1944:
Arrives in the Takao area, but at 0633 a radio
message is received warning of possibile air raids on the port. The convoy makes
for Keelung (Kirun), northern Formosa.
31 December 1944:
At 2230, arrives at Keelung.
2 January 1945:
At 0100, the convoy, now TAMO-34, departs Keelung for
Moji with destroyer KIRI, minesweeper W-17 and subchaser CH-37 as additional
escorts.
4 January 1945:
Off San Fernando, Luzon, Philippines. USAAF planes
strafe the convoy, but only OJIKASAN MARU suffers some minor damage and a number
of casualties.
9 January 1945:
At about noon, arrives at Moji.
March 1945:
DAITO MARU is reconverted to dry cargo service.
1 June 1945:
Osaka. 458 B-29 “Super Fortress” heavy bombers of the USAAF 20th Air Force raid the port. DAITO MARU is among the many ships damaged.
August 1945:
DAITO MARU departs Maizuru for Rashin, (now Najin, N Korea) carrying 100 Army Air Academy and training gliders.
9 August 1945:
At 1101, Major (later Brig Gen, ANG) Charles W. Sweeney's B-29 "BOCKSCAR", of the 509th Composite Group's 393rd Bomb Squadron, drops the 21-kiloton yield "Fat Man" plutonium atomic bomb, on Nagasaki.
That same day, carrying out Stalin's pledge at Yalta, Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky, CINC, Soviet Far East Forces, launches Operation "August Storm", the invasion of Japanese-held Manchuria (Manchukuo). The attack is made by three Soviet army groups ("fronts") comprising 80 divisions of 1.5 million men. In less than two weeks, the Soviets defeat the Japanese Kwantung Army.
15 miles SSE of Chongjin, Korea. At about 1600, two Soviet DB-3 torpedo bombers of the 49 MTAP attack DAITO MARU. At 1605, an aerial torpedo hits DAITO MARU on the starboard side in No. 3 hold and breaks her keel. Her captain beaches the ship at the port entrance with a broken back where she sinks.
15 August 1945: Cessation of Hostilities:
Imperial Palace, Tokyo. At noon, Emperor Hirohito (Showa) announces Japan's surrender that is broadcast by radio all over the Japanese Empire.
Author’s Note:
At the time of her loss, DAITO MARU was under civilian charter
to the Imperial Army.
-Bob Hackett
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