Arima Maru Class Auxiliary Oiler

(Arima Maru by Ueda Kihachiro)

In December 1942, passenger-cargo ship ARIMA MARU was requisitioned by the IJN from the Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) Line and shortly thereafter converted to an oiler.

Earlier, sister ships, ASAKA, AKAGI and AWATA MARUs had been requisitioned from NYK and converted to armed merchant cruisers. ASAKA MARU was sunk by USN aircraft in 1944. AWATA MARU was sunk by an American submarine in 1943 and AKAGI MARU was sunk at Truk in 1944.

ARIMA MARU was torpedoed and sunk by an American submarine off Palau in 1943.

Builder and
Year Completed:
Mitsubishi, Nagasaki
1936-1938
Gross tonnage: 7, 399-tons.
Dimensions: Length 485', beam 62', draft 28'
Propulsion: 1 Mitsubishi-Sulzer diesel, 1 shaft, 8,000 shp, max 19 knots.
Oil Cargo Capacity: 2, 500-tons of crude oil
Armament: Armament: 5 x 152-mm (6-inch), guns, one 76-mm (3-inch) AA gun and two 7.7-mm MGs.