KYUSETSUMOKAN!
HOKAKUMOTEI!
(KATSURA MARU in wartime. No photo has been found yet of a ship of the KYOSEI MARU class. The attached photo of KATSURA MARU is representative of what the ships of this class may have looked like with only dimensions being different)
IJN KYOSEI MARU :
Tabular Record of Movement
© 2019 Gilbert Casse, Berend van der Wal and Peter Cundall
1938:
Osaka. Built by Urabe Zosen Tekkosho K.K. for Towa Kisen K.K. as a 500-tons cargo ship. Named
KYOSEI MARU.
15 August 1938:
Completed with a Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) of 500-tons. Registered at Kobe. [1]
1939:
Her GRT is changed to 557-tons. [1]
9 March 1939:
Requisitioned by the IJN as a general requisitioned transport (Ippan Choyosen).
1940:
Her owners are changed to Kyosei Kisen K.K.
E 1941:
Converted to a requisitioned netlayer (B-AN).
1 March 1942:
At 1400, departs Amoy (now Xiamen), southern China with TAKASAKI MARU.
20 April 1942:
At 1835, arrives at Amoy.
9 January 1943:
At 1200, departs Yokohama as only member of convoy No. 1109 escorted by destroyer NAMIKAZE.
February 1943:
At Hong Kong a 5cm gun is installed on her bow deck. [2]
24 February 1943:
Departs Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands, Australia (now Papua New Guinea) in a convoy also consisting of auxiliary ammunition ship NARUTO MARU escorted by subchaser CH-30.
25 February 1943:
Arrives at Shortland, Bougainville, Solomons, Australia (now Papua New Guinea).
15 March 1943:
Off Shortland, meets up with CH-30 which starts escorting her.
16 March 1943:
At 0500, arrives with CH-30 at Shortland.
1 April 1943:
At 1300, departs Rabaul in a convoy also consisting of KIKUKAWA, ADEN, HEIWA MARUs and KOSOKU MARU No. 3 or KOSHU MARU No. 2 [3], escorted by minesweeper W-22.
3 April 1943:
At 0700, arrives with the convoy at Shortland.
6 April 1943:
Arrives at Munda, New Georgia, Solomons and departs there soon after.
7 April 1943:
Departs Shortland for Horaniu, Vella Lavella Island, Solomons escorted by CH-30.
18 April 1943:
At 1435, departs Shortland in a convoy also consisting of KISARAGI, KARIMO, SUMIYOSHI and TOMIOKA MARUs and KOSOKU MARU No. 3 escorted by subchasers CH-30 and CH-29.
20 April 1943:
At 0200, arrives with the convoy at Rabaul.
12 May 1943:
Off Shortland meets up with CH-29 and CH-30 which start escorting her. They arrive at Shortland later that day.
15 May 1943:
At 1600, departs Rabaul for Shortland in a convoy also consisting of SUMIYOSHI and SHINTOKU MARUs, and WAKAMATSU MARU No. 1, escorted by CH-30. En-route, SUMIYOSHI MARU and WAKAMATSU MARU No. 1 are detached for Buka Island, N of Bougainville, Territory of New Guinea, now Territory of Papua and New Guinea.
17 May 1943:
At 1030, arrives in the convoy at Shortland.
20 May 1943:
At 1700, departs Shortland in a convoy also consisting of SHINTOKU, SUMIYOSHI, and ATSU MARUs escorted by CH-30.
22 May 1943:
At 0545, arrives with the convoy at Rabaul.
27 May 1943:
At 1700, departs Rabaul in a convoy also consisting of SHINSEI MARU No. 18 escorted by CH-30.
29 May 1943:
At 0800, arrives with the convoy at Shortland.
30 May 1943:
At 1500, departs Shortland escorted by CH-30 for Horaniu.
3 June 1943:
Completes unloading weapons and ammunition.
9 June 1943:
At 1530, departs from Buka waters in a convoy also consisting of SUMIYOSHI MARU escorted by auxiliary subchaser NITTO MARU No. 19, W-22 joins as an escort.
11 June 1943:
At 1130, arrives at Rabaul.
22 June 1943:
At 1300, departs Rabaul in a convoy also consisting of GIYU, UJIGAWA, TAKUEI and KARIMO MARUs escorted by minesweeper W-15.
24 June 1943:
At 0830, arrives with the convoy at Shortland.
26 June 1943:
Unloads 3-tons of ammunition, equipment etc. and disembarks 90 passengers.
27 June 1943:
In the afternoon, departs Shortland escorted by CH-30.
4 July 1943:
At 1240, departs Shortland escorted by W-22.
14 July 1943:
At 1800, departs Shortland in a convoy also consisting of KOSHU MARU No. 2, escorted by CH-30.
16 July 1943:
At 0700, arrives with the convoy at Rabaul.
14 August 1943:
At 2200, departs Rabaul in a convoy also consisting of KAMI and SHINKAI MARUs and JUICHI MARU No. 25 plus one fishing boat escorted by subchaser CH-10. KYOSEI MARU is towing a Gyoraitei (MTB).
17 August 1943:
At 0300, arrives with the convoy at Shortland.
22 August 1943:
Departs Buin, Bougainville.
24 August 1943:
Arrives at Rabaul.
3 September 1943:
Departs Rabaul.
5 September 1943:
Arrives at Buin.
10 September 1943:
At 1654, departs Tonolei, Bougainville escorted by minesweeper W-28.
11 September 1943:
At 0830, arrives at Buka. Later departs.
12 September 1943:
At 0049, IJA transport KAMI MARU joins the convoy. At 0920, the ships are attacked by enemy aircraft without damage.
13 September 1943:
At 2343, arrives at Rabaul.
16 September 1943:
Departs Rabaul with JUICHI MARU No. 25 and possibly others, with unknown escort.
18 September 1943:
Arrives at Buka.
20 September 1943:
Departs Buka.
22 September 1943:
Arrives at Rabaul.
28 September 1943:
Departs Rabaul.
30 September 1943:
Arrives at Buka.
2 October 1943:
Departs Buka with GIYU MARU and possibly others, with unknown escort.
3 October 1943:
Arrives at Rabaul.
13 October 1943:
Departs Rabaul.
14 October 1943:
Arrives at Buka.
17 October 1943:
Departs Buka with JUICHI MARU No. 25 and possibly others, with unknown escort.
18 October 1943:
Arrives at Rabaul.
26 November 1943:
Departs Rabaul.
28 November 1943:
Arrives at Lorengau, Manus, Admiralty Islands, Australia (now Papua New Guinea).
8 January 1944:
At 1000, departs Kavieng, New Ireland, Bismarcks (Now Papua New Guinea) in a convoy also consisting of KAISHU MARU escorted by auxiliary subchaser CHa-23. At 2100, anchors in Steffen Straits.
10 January 1944:
At 0700, departs Steffen Straits (between New Hanover (Lavongai) and New ireland). At 1600, arrives at Bagatere, New Ireland.
11 January 1944:
At 0100, departs Bagatere. At 1700, arrives at Rabaul.
20 January 1944:
At 0130, departs Rabaul in a convoy also consisting of HEIWA MARU escorted by auxiliary subchaser CHa-23. At 1500, arrives at Catherine Bay, New Ireland.
21 January 1944:
At 0300, departs Catherine Bay. At 1400, arrives at Kavieng where KYOSEI MARU is detached.
24 January 1944:
At 1500, arrives at Rabaul in a convoy from Kavieng also consisting of KYUTOKUSAN MARU (also called TOKUYAMA MARU No. 9) escorted by auxiliary subchaser CHa-9.
22 February 1944:
Sunk (five crewmen KIA) by gunfire of USN DESDIV 45 consisting of USS STANLY (DD-478), USS CHARLES AUSBURNE (DD-570) and USS DYSON (DD-572) in Isabel Channel, New Hanover, New Ireland. Auxiliary minesweeper TAMA MARU No. 8 (casualties unknown), IJA transport CHORYU MARU (three crewmen KIA) and transport KYUTOKUSAN MARU (TOKUYAMA MARU No. 9) (casualties unknown) are also sunk.
30 November 1944:
Removed from the Navy list.
Authors' Notes:
[[1] NRT is a ship's cargo volume capacity expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of 100 cubic feet (2.83 m3). It is calculated by subtracting non-revenue-earning spaces i.e. spaces not available for carrying cargo, for example engine rooms, fuel tanks and crew quarters, from the ship's gross register tonnage (GRT). Net register tonnage (NRT) is not a measure of the weight of the ship or its cargo, and should not be confused with terms such as deadweight tonnage or displacement.
[2] She is referred to as HIPSHING MARU. From this point on KYOSEI MARU appears to have been used as a transport rather than a netlayer.
[3] It is unclear if this ship is KOSHU MARU No. 2 or KOSOKU MARU No. 3, both of which were in the area.
Thanks go to Gengoro S. Toda of Japan.
- Gilbert Casse, Berend van der Wal and Peter Cundall.
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