RIKUGUN YUSOSEN
(Sister DAIFUKU MARU No. 1, prewar)
OHIO MARU:
Tabular Record of Movement
© 2012-2016 Bob Hackett
Revision 3
5 February 1920:
Kobe. Laid down at Kawasaki Dockyard Co. Ltd., as Yard No. 498, a 5,873-ton passenger-cargo ship for Kokusai Kisen K. K., Kobe.
3 April 1920:
Launched and named OHIO MARU.
25 May 1920:
Completed and registered in Hashidate, Hokkaido.
1932:
Sold to Hakuyo Kisen, K. K.
E 1935:
Chartered to the Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK) Line.
May 1935:
OHIO MARU departs Singapore on OSK’s Africa and South America route with ports of call at Cape Town, via Mombasa, Zanzibar, Dar-es-
Salaam, Lorenzo Marques, Durban, East London and Algoa Bay.
July 1937:
The Second Sino-Japanese War begins.
1937:
Chartered by the Imperial Army (IJA).
21 November 1937:
Departs Ujina .
22 November 1937:
Arrives at Moji and then departs to transport wounded .
25 November 1937:
Arrives at Shanghai:
28 November 1937:
Departs Shanghai:
1 December 1937:
Arrives at Moji and departs.
2 December 1937:
Arrives at Osaka.
8 January 1938:
Departs Ujina .
9 January 1938:
Arrives at Moji and departs.
12 January 1938:
Arrives at Shanghai:
15 January 1938:
Departs Shanghai:
18 January 1938:
Arrives at Moji and departs
19 January 1938:
Arrives at Ujina.
24 January 1938:
Departs Ujina .
25 January 1938:
Arrives at Moji and departs
28 January 1938:
Arrives at Shanghai:
31 January 1938:
Departs Shanghai:
3 February 1938:
Arrives at Moji and departs.
4 February 1938:
Arrives at Ujina..
1 July 1941:
Requisitioned by the Imperial Army (IJA). Allotted IJA ship No. 122.
13 December 1941 - Operation “E” – The Invasion of Malaya:
At 0830, OHIO MARU departs Camranh Bay in the IJA 5th Infantry Division Transportation
Movement's 3rd Unit with KUNITAMA, OREGON, SUMATRA and YAWATA MARUs. The Movement carries the main body of the 5th Infantry Division.
16 December 1941:
At 1900, arrives at Singora, Siam (now Songhkla, Thailand).
23 July 1942:
Palembang, Sumatra. OHIO MARU loads the 35th Independent Field Anti-aircraft Company.
29 July 1942:
Departs Singapore in a convoy with two other ships for Cap St Jacques.
2 August 1942:
Arrives at Cap St Jacques.
3 August 1942:
OHIO MARU departs Cap St Jacques for Hai Phong, Vichy French Indochina in convoy 425 also composed of ATAGO MARU boumd for Mako, DENMARK MARU and TOKIWA MARU No, 1 both also bound for Takao and TOYAMA MARU bound for Whampoa escorted
by auxiliary gunboat CHOJUSAN MARU.
5 August 1942:
OHIO MARU is detached from the convoy at 11-35N, 112-46E to proceed to Hai Phong.
6 August 1942:
South China Sea, about 250 miles ENE of Camranh Bay, Vichy French Indochina. At 0121, LtCdr Joseph H. Willingham’s (USNA ’26) USS TAUTOG (SS-199) fires three torpedoes by periscope and gets two hits that sink
OHIO MARU at 13-51N, 113-15E. 38 passengers, 2 guards and 72 crewmen (112) are KIA. [1]
Author's Notes:
[1] British and Dutch sources claim that on 2 Aug 1942, at 0842, Dutch LTZ 1 Albertus M. Valkenburg’s submarine O-23 torpedoed and sank OHIO MARU in the Malacca Straits, off Penang.
Thanks go to Erich Muehlthaler of Germany and Berend van der Wal of the Netherlands..
No data were found for OREGON MARU's movements from Dec '41 to Aug '42. Readers with access to any such data are requested to post the information on our Discussion and Questions board or j-aircraft.org's IJN Ship Message Board
- Bob Hackett
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