Japanese landing ship No.140

T.140 or No. 140 was a 103-class landing ship tank of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War.

History
Name: T.140
Builder: Sasebo Navy Yard[1]
Laid down: 26 July 1944[1]
Launched: 26 February 1944[1]
Sponsored by: Imperial Japanese Navy
Completed: 13 April 1944[1]
Stricken: 10 March 1945[1]
Fate: sunk by aircraft, 12 January 1945[1]
General characteristics No.103 class
Displacement:
  • 870 long tons (884 t) standard
  • 1,020 long tons (1,036 t) trial
Length:
  • 80.50 m (264 ft 1 in) overall
  • 75.00 m (246 ft 1 in) waterline
Beam: 9.10 m (29 ft 10 in)
Draught: 2.94 m (9 ft 8 in)
Draft: 5.65 m (18 ft 6 in)
Propulsion:
  • 1 × Kampon geared turbine
  • 2 × Kampon water tube boilers
  • single shaft, 2,500 shp
Speed: 16.0 knots (18.4 mph; 29.6 km/h)
Range:
  • Going: 1,000 nmi (1,900 km) at 16 kn (30 km/h; 18 mph)
  • Returning: 1,000 nmi (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Capacity:
  • 120 troops, 22 tons freight and
  • Example 1: 13 × Type 95 Ha-Go
  • Example 2: 9 × Type 97 Chi-Ha
  • Example 3: 7 × Type 2 Ka-Mi
  • Example 4: 5 × Type 3 Ka-Chi
  • Example 5: 220 tons freight
  • Example 6: approx. 280 troops
Complement: 100
Armament:
  • No.104, 20 August 1944
  • 1 × 76.2 mm (3.00 in) L/40 AA gun
  • 16 × Type 96 25 mm AA guns
  • 4 × 13 mm AA guns
  • 12 × depth charges

History

T.140 was laid down at the Sasebo Navy Yard on 26 July 1944, launched in August 1944, and completed in September 1944.[1]

Reinforcement of Leyte

In January 1944, she was assigned to Convoy TA No. 9 which was tasked with the reinforcement of Leyte Island.[1] The task force consisted of three transports (Mino Maru, Sorachi Maru, Tasmania Maru) carrying 4,000 troops of the 5th Infantry Regiment and two landing craft tank (T.140, T.159) carrying ten Type 2 Ke-To light tanks and 400 Special Naval Landing Force marines, escorted by Destroyer Division 30 (Yuzuki, Uzuki, Kiri) and Submarine Chaser Division 21 (CH-17, CH-37).[1] On 9 December 1944, the task force left Manila for Ormoc Bay.[1] On 11 December 1944, the convoy was attacked 30 miles off the coast of Leyte by 40 USMC F4U Corsair fighter-bombers of VMF-211, VMF-218, and VMF-313.[1] The planes sink Tasmania Maru (1,192 dead) and Mino Maru (14 dead).[1] Uzuki stays behind to rescue survivors, Sorachi Maru, Ch-17, and Ch-37 are diverted to complete the landing at Palompon while T.140 and T.159 escorted by Yuzuki and Kiri land their troops and tanks as planned at Ormoc Bay.[1] 8 of 10 tanks reach the shore but are quickly destroyed or captured on the beach by U.S. ground forces and the destroyer USS Coghlan.[1] In the ensuing melee, both T. 159 and T.140 are heavily damaged.[1] T.159 is deemed a total loss and abandoned while T.140 is able to limp away to safety.[1] Sorachi Maru was able to safely disembark its troops at Palompon and then with CH-17 and Ch-37 as escorts, made it back to Manila on 3 December 1944.[2] Uzuki was dispatched to join Kiri and Yuzuki with the damaged T.140 but was quickly spotted and torpedoed by the PT boats PT-490 and PT-492.[2] While en route to Manila, Yūzuki was attacked and sunk by American aircraft.[2] Kiri and T.140 made it to Manila on 3 December 1944.[2]

Demise

On 12 January 1945, in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam at (10°20′N 107°50′E), she along with the Ikutagawa Maru (ex-Italian Ramb II) were attacked and sunk by aircraft from the Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Sr.'s Task Force 38 that had entered the South China Sea to raid Japanese shipping.[3] T.140 was struck from the Navy List on 10 March 1945.[1]

gollark: Well, I know that *now*.
gollark: I had one egg die from overhatcherying, so I just started only putting them in after about a day or so.
gollark: Why do you need a CB red?
gollark: I'm probably diverting views from eggs more in need, slightly, but it means that they basically always hatch.
gollark: I, personally, leave my eggs until 5 or 6 days then put them in all the hatcheries on the "list of active fansites".

References
  1. Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander. "IJN LST T.140: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  2. Nevitt, Allyn D. (1997). "The TA Operations to Leyte, Part III". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  3. Cressman, Robert J. (2006) [1999]. "Chapter VII: 1945". The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.