SS Yoshida Maru

The Yoshida Maru (吉田丸) was a Japanese cargo ship owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha. The ship was built in 1941 by Hakodate Dock at Hakodate on the northern island of Hokkaidō.

Not to be confused with SS Yoshida Maru No. 1.

History
Japan
Name:	Yoshida Maru [1]
Operator:	Nippon Yusen (NYK)
Builder:	Hakodate Dock at Hakodate, Hokkaidō
Completed:	August 1941
In service:	1941 - 1944
Fate:	Torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Flasher, 18 February 1944
General characteristics
Tonnage:	2,921 gross register tons (GRT)
Length:	93 m (305 ft)
Beam:	13.8 m (45 ft)
Propulsion:	1 turbine, single screw
Speed:	11 knots (20 km/h)
Notes:	Steel construction

History

The Yoshida Maru was built at Hakodate; and she left port in August 1941 on her maiden voyage.[2]

The 2,921-ton vessel had a length of 310 feet (93 m), and her beam was 45 feet (13.8 m). The single turbine, single screw propulsion produced an average speed of 11 knots (20 km/h).[2]

World War II

Yoshida Maru was requisitioned as an auxiliary gunboat/minelayer and transport ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was armed with 3 guns of 12 cm and machineguns.

On 18 January 1944, she was sunk by the submarine USS Flasher at 140 miles west-southwest of Minami-Tori-shima, 23°50′N 151°28′E.[3]

See also

• List of Japanese hell ships
• Foreign commerce and shipping of Empire of Japan

Notes

1. "Yoshida Maru Passenger/cargo ship 1919-1944". Wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 2015-02-21.
2. Haworth, R.B. Miramar Ship Index: Yoshida Maru, ID#4048724.
3. "The Official Chronology of The US Navy in World War II". HyperWar Foundation. Retrieved 2015-02-21.

References

• Blair, Clay. (2001). Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-217-9; OCLC 45207785
• Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1935). The Nomenclature of the N.Y.K. Fleet. Tokyo : Nippon Yusen Kaisha. OCLC 27933596
• Tate, E. Mowbray. (1986). Transpacific steam: the story of steam navigation from the Pacific Coast of North America to the Far East and the Antipodes, 1867-1941. New York: Cornwall Books. ISBN 978-0-8453-4792-8;

OCLC 12370774