Japanese seaplane tender Kiyokawa Maru

Kiyokawa Maru (聖川丸) was a seaplane tender in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).

Kiyokawa Maru at the Panama Canal on 29 September 1937
History
Japan
Name: Kiyokawa Maru
Builder: Kawasaki, Kōbe Shipyard
Laid down: October 21, 1936
Launched: February 16, 1937
Acquired: September 28, 1941
Commissioned: October 5, 1941
Out of service: July 20, 1945
Stricken: August 10, 1946
Fate: Scrapped 1969
General characteristics
Class and type: Kamikawa Maru-class seaplane tender
Displacement: 6,863 tons standard
Length: 479 feet
Beam: 62 feet
Draft: 30 feet td>
Installed power: 7,600 shp
Propulsion: 1 Kawasaki-M.A.N. diesel, 1 shaft
Speed: 28 knots
Armament: 2 x 5.9-inch, 2 x Type 96 25 mm (0.98 in) AA, 2 x 13.2 mm (0.52 in) MG
Aircraft carried: 12 seaplanes (24 stored)
Aviation facilities: Two catapults, cranes

History
Kiyokawa Maru (top) and destroyer Mochizuki (bottom) maneuver under aerial attack by US Navy aircraft from the carrier Yorktown during the Invasion of Lae-Salamaua on March 10, 1942.

The ship was built at Kawasaki's Kōbe Shipyard and launched on 13 December 1936 as a merchant vessel for the Kawasaki Kisen K. K. Line. Kyokawa Maru was involved in a collision with the small train ferry Uko Maru No. 1 on 19 August 1937 in the Seto Inland Sea, southwest of Nakanose.

Requisitioned by the IJN on 28 September 1941 and was refitted as a seaplane tender. The ship subsequently saw service in the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Kiyokawa Maru was attacked by aircraft from Task Force 38 on 20 July 1945. Hit by bombs and heavily damaged she was beached off Shida beach north of Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi to avoid sinking.

On 22 November 1945 during heavy weather, Kiyokawa Maru sank. Raised in December 1948, later repaired and put in civilian passenger service. Scrapped 1969.

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References
  • Global Security (2009). "IJN Kamikawa Maru Seaplane Tender". Military. GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  • Hackett, Bob; Sander Kingsepp; Allan Alsleben (2006). "IJN Seaplane Tender Kiyokawa Maru: Tabular Record of Movement". Tokusetsu Suijoki-Bokan!. Combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  • Hackett, Bob; Sander Kingsepp; Allan Alsleben (2006). "Kamikawa Maru Class". Tokusetsu Suijoki-Bokan!. Combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 1 July 2009.

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