Tamatsu Maru
Japanese ship
 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Japan | |
| Builder | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
| Laid down | 4 November 1942 |
| Launched | 18 August 1943 |
| Completed | 20 January 1944 |
| Fate | Sunk, 19 August 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Landing craft carrier |
| Tonnage | 11,910 tons |
| Length | 459.1 ft (139.9 m) |
| Beam | 62.4 ft (19.0 m) |
| Draft | 23.1 ft (7.0 m) |
| Installed power | Diesel engines, 10,800 hp (8,100 kW) |
| Speed | 20.8 knots (38.5 km/h; 23.9 mph) |
| Armament |
|
| Notes | [1] |
Tamatsu Maru was a World War II Japanese landing craft depot ship[2] completed in January 1944[3] and remembered for the heavy loss of life when sunk by USS Spadefish[2] on 19 August 1944. Between 4,406 and 4,755 Japanese soldiers and seamen drowned.[4]
Early history
Tamatsu Maru was laid down at Mitsui Shipbuilding on 4 November 1942, launched on 18 August 1943, and completed on 20 January 1944. Its first military loading was from Moji to Manila with convoy Hi-45 in February 1944. It returned to Japan in March to transport elements of the 30th Infantry Division of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) from Pusan to the Philippines with convoy Hi-63 in May. It returned to Japan with convoy Hi-62 in early June to transport the IJA 5th Field Heavy Artillery and 58th Independent Mixed Brigade to the Philippines with convoy MOMA-01 in July. It returned to Japan in early August with convoy Hi-68.[3]
Loss
Tamatsu Maru departed Pusan on 8 August 1944 carrying the Japanese 2nd Battalion and regimental headquarters of the 13th Independent Infantry Regiment from Korea for defense of the Philippines. It joined convoy Hi-71 departing Moji on 10 August, and stopping at the Mako naval base in the Pescadores on 15 August. Convoy Hi-71 departed Mako on 17 August[3] and was discovered by USS Redfish that evening. Redfish assembled other submarines for a radar-guided wolfpack attack on the evening of 18 August in heavy rain.[5]
As the convoy was scattered by heavy seas and evasive maneuvers, Tamatsu Maru apparently became separated from convoy escorts. On 19 August, around 03:30, Spadefish found Tamatsu Maru on a northerly course[5] and fired a salvo of six torpedoes. Spadefish heard two torpedoes hit. Convoy escorts were unaware of the ship's location (17°34′N 119°24′E / 17.567°N 119.400°E / 17.567; 119.400) until one of them discovered thousands of floating bodies that afternoon.[3] The sinking of Tamatsu Maru was the fourth worst loss of life on any Japanese vessel during the war taking down 4,755 troops and 135 merchant seamen.[6]
See also
Notes
- ^ Hackett, Bob; Cundall, Peter (January 2011). "IJA Landing Craft Depot Ships". Combined Fleet.
- ^ a b Cressman, p. 248
- ^ a b c d Hackett, Bob; Cundall, Peter (2011). "IJA Landing Craft Depot Ship Tamatsu Maru: Tabular Record of Movement". Combined Fleet.
- ^ "Convoy Hi-71 (ヒ71船団)" (PDF). All Japan Seamen's Union. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
- ^ a b Blair, pp. 676–680
- ^ "Japanese Landing Craft Depot Ships". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
Sources
- Blair, Clay (1975). Silent Victory. New York: J.B. Lippincott Company. ISBN 9780397007530.
- Cressman, Robert J. (2000). The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Washington, D.C.: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-149-1.
- "Tamatsu Maru (+1944)". WreckSite. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
18°49′N 119°47′E / 18.817°N 119.783°E / 18.817; 119.783
- v
- t
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in August 1944
- 2 Aug: USS Fiske
- 3 Aug: HMS Quorn
- 4 Aug: Tannenfels, Matsu
- 5 Aug: Mefküre, U-671
- 6 Aug: Empire City, Sachsenwald, Thétis, U-471, U-736, U-952, U-969, V 215 Oliva
- 7 Aug: Amsterdam, Empire Day, Nagara
- 8 Aug: Conte Verde, HMCS Regina, Tama Maru No. 6, V 404 Falke
- 9 Aug: Spichern
- 10 Aug: U-608
- 11 Aug: V 623 Jupiter, U-385, U-967
- 12 Aug: T-114, T-118, U-198, U-981, V 410 Germania
- 13 Aug: USS Flier, U-270, V 1101 Preußsen
- 14 Aug: V 605 Arthur Duncker, Gueydon, U-618
- 15 Aug: U-741
- 16 Aug: Trémintin
- 17 Aug: TA35
- 18 Aug: La Galissonnière, Natori, Strasbourg, Taiyō, Teia Maru, U-107, U-129, U-621, V 406 Hans Loh
- 19 Aug: Commandant Teste, Hayasui, Tamatsu Maru, U-123, U-466, V-6112 Friese
- 20 Aug: Richard Montgomery, U-9, U-413, U-984, U-1229. V 409 August Bösch
- 21 Aug: HMCS Alberni, HMS Kite, HMS Orchis, U-230, V 402 Dr. Adolf Spilker, Z23
- 22 Aug: HMS Bickerton, HMS Loyalty, Matsuwa, Tsushima Maru, U-344, V 401 Jan Mayen, V 405 J. Hinrich Wilhelms, V 413 Ferdinand Niedermeyer
- 23 Aug: Asakaze, U-180
- 24 Aug: USS Harder, NMS Mihail Kogălniceanu, U-354, U-445, Z37
- 25 Aug: Sperrbrecher 136, U-18, U-24, U-178, U-667, UIT-21, Yūnagi, Z24
- 26 Aug: Samidare, U-188, V 404 Baden, V 411 Saarland
- 27 Aug: HMS Britomart, Clemenceau, HMS Hussar
- 28 Aug: John Barry, V 407 Dorum
- 30 Aug: De Grasse, M553
- 31 Aug: Shirataka
- Unknown date: Condorcet, Kulmerland, Marechal Petain, U-925
- 4 Aug: Maycrest
- 15 Aug: LST-404
- 16 Aug: USS S-38
- 18 Aug: U-1054
- 20 Aug: Daronia
- 22 Aug: HMS Nabob
- 27 Aug: USS Pollack
- 31 Aug: U-1000
