Kasuga Maru
| Career (Japan) | ![Civil naval ensign ([Hinmaru])](/File:Flag_of_Japan.svg){kind=small} |
|---|---|
| Name: | Kasuga Maru |
| Operator: | Nippon Yusen (NYK) |
| Builder: | Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Nagasaki, Japan |
| Laid down: | 1938 |
| Completed: | 1939 |
| Out of service: | 1944 |
| Fate: | lost in war |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 17,150 gross register tons (GRT) |
| Length: | 591 ft (180 m) |
| Beam: | 73 ft (22 m) |
| Speed: | 18 knots |
| Notes: | Steel construction |
The Kasuga Maru (春日丸) was a Japanese ocean liner owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha. The ship was built in 1938-1940 by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Nagasaki, Japan. The vessel's pre-war design anticipated passenger service; but when work was completed, the onset of war had created somewhat different priorities.
The vessel was created as a sister ship of the Yawata Maru, and the Nitta Maru. None of the three survived the Second World War. Each in succession was re-fitted as a troopship; and each was later converted to an aircraft carrier.
In 1941, Kasuga Maru was re-commissioned as the Japanese aircraft carrier Taiyō.[1] In 1942, the Yawata Maru was recommissioned as the Japanese aircraft carrier Unyō and the Nitta Maru was recommissioned as the Japanese aircraft carrier Chūyō.[2]
When first launched, this ship was named after an important Shinto shrine.[3]
History
The ship was built by Mitsubishi at Nagasaki on the southern island of Kyushu. Work on the Kasuga Maru was completed in 1939.[4]
The 17,150-ton vessel had a length of 591 feet (180 m), and her beam was 73 feet (22 m). The ship's steam turbines and twin screw propulsion produced an average speed of 18-knots.[4]
Pacific War
After two years of service as a conventional passenger liner, Yawata Maru was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Initially, the ship was assigned for transporting prisoners of war; and then she was refitted as an aircraft carrier renamed Unyo. The warship was sunk by the submarine USS Barb on September 17, 1944.
See also
Notes
- ↑ Haworth, R.B. Miramar Ship Index: ID #4048210.
- ↑ CombinedFleet: Taiyō class, Imperial Japanese Navy.
- ↑ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1935). The Nomeclature of the N.Y.K. Fleet, p. 50.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jordan, Roger. (2006). The World's Merchant Fleets, 1939: The Particulars And Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships, p. 258.
References
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1935). The Nomeclature of the N.Y.K. Fleet. Tokyo : NYK. OCLC 27933596
- Jordan, Roger. (2006). The World's Merchant Fleets, 1939: The Particulars And Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. 10-ISBN 1-59114-959-2; 13-ISBN 978-1-59114-959-0; OCLC 150361480
- 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. 10-ISBN 0-8453-4792-6; 13-ISBN 978-0-8453-4792-8; OCLC 12370774
