Japanese Transports

ZATSUYOSEN!

(NISSHO MARU No. 16 Plan - Peter Cundall's collection. NB no photo known to exist)

IJN NISSHO MARU No. 16:
Tabular Record of Movement

© 2015 Gilbert Casse and Peter Cundall

E 1939:
Osaka. Laid down by Ohara Zosen Tekkosho K.K. shipyard for Marusho Kaiun K.K. as a 1,173-tons cargo ship.
5 July 1939:
Launched and named NISSHO MARU No. 16.
22 December 1939:
Completed and registered at Ura, Hyogo Prefecture.
5 December 1941:
Requisitioned by the IJN.
20 December 1941:
Registered in the IJN as an auxiliary gunboat attached to the Sasebo Naval District under instruction No. 1700. Reserve Lt Ishiyama Taizo is appointed CO.
29 December 1941:
Koyaki-Jima, SW of Nagasaki. Starts conversion to military duty at Kawaminami Kogyo K.K. shipyard. Departs later that day.
E 30 December 1941:
Departs Koyaki-Jima.
31 December 1941:
Arrives at Sasebo. Tactically assigned to Chinkai Guard District, Guard Force Unit, Tsushima Strait guard forces under Chinkai Guard District instruction No. 28.
3 January 1942:
Scheduled to be fitted with 8 depth-charges (DCs) permanently stored on deck under Chinkai Guard District secret instruction No. 2.
10 January 1942:
Departs Sasebo.
11 January 1942:
Arrives at Chinkai, Chosen (now Jinhae, South Korea).
15 January 1942:
Assigned to patrol duties in Tsushima Strait under Chinkai Guard District secret instruction No. 32.
23 January 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
28 January 1942:
Arrives at Takeshiki, Nagasaki Prefecture.
1 February 1942:
Departs Takeshiki.
5 February 1942:
Arrives at Chinkai.
8 February 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
10 February 1942:
Assigned to patrol duties in Tsushima Strait under Chinkai Guard District secret instruction No. 41.
13 February 1942:
Arrives at Takeshiki.
16 February 1942:
Departs Takeshiki.
18 February 1942:
Arrives at Chinkai.
24 February 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
1 March 1942:
Arrives at Takeshiki.
4 March 1942:
Departs Takeshiki.
9 March 1942:
Arrives at Chinkai.
16 March 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
17 March 1942:
Arrives at Takeshiki.
20 March 1942:
Departs Takeshiki.
25 March 1942:
Arrives at Chinkai.
27 March 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
1 April 1942:
Arrives at Takeshiki.
4 April 1942:
Departs Takeshiki and arrives at Chinkai later that day.
6 April 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
12 April 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
13 April 1942:
Departs Chinkai on gunnery practice and arrives back there later in the day.
15 April 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
27 April 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
1 May 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
14 May 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
20 May 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
22 May 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
2 June 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
13 June 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
17 June 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
29 June 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
3 July 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
7 July 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
18 July 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
23 July 1942:
Arrives at Takeshiki.
24 July 1942:
Departs Takeshiki.
25 July 1942:
Arrives at Kyobun To (Komun Do, Chosen also called Port Hamilton, Great Britain, though occupied by the Japanese, now Geomun-do, South Korea).
27 July 1942:
Departs Kyobun To.
29 July 1942:
Arrives at Chinkai.
1 August 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
8 August 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
10 August 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
17 August 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
20 August 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
31 August 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
? September 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
6 September 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
14 September 1942:
Departs Chinkai and arrives back there later.
1 October 1942:
Tactically assigned to Chinkai Guard District, Guard Force, Tsushima Strait 1st patrol forces under Chinkai Guard District instruction No. 57.
5 October 1942:
Arrives at Chinkai from Ryojun (ex-Port Arthur), Manchuria (now Lushun, northern China). Departs there later that day.
9 October 1942:
Arrives at Ryojun. Enters Ryojun shipyard drydock for maintenance and repairs.
17 October 1942:
Undocked.
21 October 1942:
Departs Ryojun.
26 November 1942:
Arrives at Chinkai.
28 November 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
1 December 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
11 December 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
16 December 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
25 December 1942:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
29 December 1942:
Departs Chinkai.
13 January 1943:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
31 January 1943:
Departs Chinkai.
23 February 1943:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
27 February 1943:
Departs Chinkai.
21 March 1943:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
30 March 1943:
Departs Chinkai.
20 April 1943:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
29 April 1943:
Departs Chinkai.
9 May 1943:
Departs Cebu for Palau, Western Carolines in a convoy also consisting of IJA transports KAISHUN MARU and CHOUN MARU No. 23 escorted by auxiliary subchaser CHa-39 and one unidentified escort.
20 May 1943:
Arrives at Chinkai.
29 May 1943:
Departs Chinkai.
23 August 1943:
Arrives at Chinkai.
30 August 1943:
Departs Chinkai.
16 September 1943:
Arrives back at Chinkai.
22 September 1943:
Departs Chinkai.
28 September 1943:
Scheduled to be converted to an auxiliary transport under Navy’s secret directive No. 4917.
1 October 1943:
Removed from the Navy’s list under instruction No. 2038. Registered that same day in the Navy’s list as an auxiliary transport (Otsu) category attached to the Sasebo Naval District with Sasebo as home port under instruction No. 2041. [1]
20 October 1943:
Re-rated as General Requisitioned transport.
25 October 1943:
Arrives at Sasebo. Re-rated as auxiliary transport.
28 October 1943:
Reserve Lt Matsumoto Chiyota is appointed supervisor.
30 October 1943:
Departs Sasebo and arrives at Sakito, Kyushu later that day.
31 October 1943:
Departs Sakito.
3 November 1943:
Arrives at Kobe.
4 November 1943:
Departs Kobe.
6 November 1943:
Arrives at Moji. Departs later that day.
7 November 1943:
Arrives at Tsukumi, Oita Prefecture, Kyushu.
9 November 1943:
Departs Tsukumi.
10 November 1943:
Arrives at Wada-Misaki.
11 November 1943:
Departs Wada-Misaki alone at 6 knots.
12 November 1943:
Arrives at Gokasho, Shiga Prefecture.
13 November 1943:
Departs Gokasho and arrives at Nagoya later that day.
16 November 1943:
Departs Nagoya.
18 November 1943:
Arrives at Nagasaki.
19 November 1943:
Departs Nagasaki and arrives at Moji later that same day.
20 November 1943:
Departs Moji and arrives at Mutsure-Jima later in the day.
21 November 1943:
Departs Mutsure-Jima.
25 November 1943:
Arrives at Chinnampo, Chosen (now North Korea).
27 November 1943:
Departs Chinnampo.
4 December 1943:
Departs Inland Sea at 6 knots. Later escorted by auxiliary minesweeper SENYU MARU No. 3.
7 December 1943:
Arrives at Yokosuka.
10 December 1943:
Departs Yokosuka.
26 December 1943:
Arrives at Kure.
29 January 1944:
Departs Kure.
6 February 1944:
Due to arrive at Takao that evening.
9 February 1944:
Arrives at Takao, Formosa (now Kaohsiung, Taiwan).
22 February 1944:
Departs Takao in convoy TAMA-05 also consisting of IJA shared tanker (A/C-AO) ZUIYO MARU and IJA transports TAIKOKU, FUYO, HOZAN, CHINKAI, FUJIKAWA, KACHOSAN and TEIYU (ex-Italian CARIGNANO) MARUs escorted by minesweeper W-17, auxiliary netlayer TOKACHI MARU, auxiliary TERUKUNI MARU and two other small escorts.
26 February 1944:
At 1800, arrives at Manila, Luzon, Philippines.
24 September 1944:
Near Ikulong Island, Philippines. Strikes a mine and sinks with the loss of 13 crewmen.
5 February 1945:
Removed from the Navy’s list under instruction No. 101.

Authors' Notes :
[1] There were two categories of Zatsuyosen. (Ko) category with an IJN Captain as supervisor aboard and (Otsu) category without.
Thanks go to Gengoro S. Toda of Japan. Thanks also go to Jeff Donahoo of Iowa for Officers’ info.

Gilbert Casse and Peter Cundall.

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