KYURYOSEN!

(OI MARU prior to Dec ‘41)

IJN OI MARU No. 2:
Tabular Record of Movement


© 2017 Gilbert Casse, Berend van der Wal and Peter Cundall

5 March 1938:
Osaka. Laid down by. Osaka Tekkosho Honsha K.K shipyard for Nippon Suisan K.K. as a 488-tons deep sea fishing trawler.

12 August 1938:
Launched and renamed OI MARU.

12 November 1938:
Completed and registered at Tokyo with a GRT (gross registered tonnage) of 488-tons and NRT (net registered tonnage) of 322-tons. At some later date the gross tonnage is re-measured at 498 tons. [1]

23 November 1941:
Requisitioned by the IJN.

28 November 1941:
Nagasaki. Conversion to military duty starts at Mitsubishi Zosen K.K. shipyard. Renamed OI MARU No. 2. [2]

10 December 1941:
Registered as an auxiliary stores ship (Otsu) category attached to the Sasebo Naval District under instruction No. 1634.

19 December 1941:
The conversion is completed.

26 December 1941:
Departs Sasebo for Malalag Bay, near Davao, Phillipines.

5 January 1942:
Malalag Bay. At 1800, provisions patrol boat PB-37 with fresh food.

6 January 1942:
Provisions patrol boat PB-1 with fresh food.

January 1942:
Departs Malalag Bay for Tarakan, Borneo, Netherlands East Indies.

20 January 1942:
Tarakan. At 1353, provisions patrol boat PB-37 with fresh food. Departs later for Banka anchorage, NE Celebes (now Sulawesi), Netherlands East Indies.

21 January 1942:
Banka anchorage. The bow is slightly damaged after a collision with destroyer ASAGUMO.

16 March 1942:
Banka anchorage. Provisions auxiliary gunboat TAIKO MARU with fresh food.

10 April 1942:
Attached to Base Air Force Transport Unit.

12 May 1942:
Arrives at Roi, Marshalls.

13 May 1942:
Departs Roi.

14 May 1942:
Arrives at Taroa, Marshalls.

17 May 1942:
Departs Taroa.

18 May 1942:
Arrives at Emiedj, Marshalls.

20 May 1942:
Departs Emiedj. Attached to Base Air Force Transport Unit.

22 May 1942:
Arrives at Kusiae (now Kosrae), Eastern Carolines.

24 May 1942:
Departs Kusiae.

26 May 1942:
Arrives at Roi and departs later that day.

28 May 1942:
Arrives at Emiedj.

29 May 1942:
Departs Emiedj for Taroa.

30 May 1942:
At 0700 arrives Maloelap. Sinks inside, Maloelap Atoll, Marshalls after striking a mine in a defensive field.

1 July 1942:
Removed from the Navy’s list under instruction No. 1184.

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] There were two categories of Kyuryosen. (Ko) category with an IJN Captain as supervisor aboard and (Otsu) category without.

Thanks go to Gengoro S. Toda of Japan.

- Berend van der Wal, Gilbert Casse and Peter Cundall.

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