Kyoei Maru Class


Builder and Year Completed:	Harima Shipbuilding, Aioi. 1937
Gross tonnage:	591-tons, later increased to 602-tons.
Dimensions:	176.2' x 30' x 12.8'
Propulsion:	Diesel engine, 1 shaft, machinery aft, 116 nhp
Speed:	10 knots
Armament:	11 8-cm gun, unknown number of 7.7 mm Type 92 machine guns later replaced by 13-mm machine guns, unknown number of Type 38 ‘Arisaka’ rifles and 1 depth charge rack with an unknown number of depth charges.

Kyoei Maru Class Auxiliary Oiler

(KYOEI MARU prewar, apparently on builders trials in Inland Sea, – Peter Cundall Collection)
This class consisted of KYOEI MARU only, completed in 1937 as a coastal tanker for Kyoei Tanker K.K.
She was requisitioned by the IJN in Nov ’40 and converted to an auxiliary oiler. She served first as a station oiler at Rabaul. Later she was mainly used to transport oil (mostly aviation gasoline) and other war materials between Rabaul, Borneo, Truk and Palau. KYOEI MARU was sunk by US Army Air Force B-25 and P-35 aircaft near Tarakan, Borneo, Netherlands East Indies in Nov '43.

Builder and
Year Completed: Harima Shipbuilding, Aioi.
1937

Gross tonnage: 591-tons, later increased to 602-tons.

Dimensions: 176.2' x 30' x 12.8'
Propulsion: Diesel engine, 1 shaft, machinery aft, 116 nhp
Speed: 10 knots
Armament: 11 8-cm gun, unknown number of 7.7 mm Type 92 machine guns later replaced by 13-mm machine guns, unknown number of Type 38 ‘Arisaka’ rifles and 1 depth charge rack with an unknown number of depth charges.