KYURYOSEN!
(BANSHU MARU No. 5 as BANSHU MARU No. 15, prior to 1939 – Peter Cundall collection)
IJN BANSHU MARU No. 5:
Tabular Record of Movement
© 2017 Gilbert Casse, Berend van der Wal and Peter Cundall
April 1933:
Osaka. Laid down by Mihara Zosen Tekkosho K.K. shipyard for Hayashikane Shoten K.K. as a 389-tons refrigerated cargo ship.
June 1933:
Launched and named BANSHU MARU No. 15.
August 1933:
Completed and registered at Kobe with a GRT (gross registered tonnage) of 389-ton and NRT (net registered tonnage) of 248-ton. [1]
1 November 1939:
Renamed BANSHU MARU No. 5.
26 October 1940 ~ 5 March 1941:
Chartered by Taiyo Hogei K.K., the whaling division of Hayashikane Shoten K.K., later Taiyo Gyogyo (now Maruha) K.K.
19 July 1941:
Requisitioned by the IJN.
27 July 1941:
Departs Sasebo for the South China Sea.
18 August 1941:
Arrives at Takao, Formosa (now Kaohsiung, Taiwan).
26 August 1941:
Departs Takao for the South China Sea.
11 September 1941:
Arrives at Takao.
25 September 1941:
Departs Takao for the South China Sea.
15 October 1941:
Registered as an auxiliary stores ship attached to the Sasebo Naval District under instruction No. 1256.
25 October 1941:
Arrives at Takao.
E 26 ~ 27 October 1941:
Attached to Vice Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo’s (37) Southern Expeditionary Fleet as an auxiliary stores ship (Otsu) category. [2]
28 October 1941:
Departs Takao for the South China Sea.
21 November 1941:
Arrives at Takao.
26 November 1941:
Departs Takao for the South China Sea.
5 December 1941:
At 0946, arrives at Samah.
6 December 1941:
At 0945, departs Samah.
12 March 1942:
Arrives at Takao.
15 May 1942:
Fitted with one Type 92 7.7mm mod. A MG and five type 38 Arisaka rifles under instruction No. 5990.
12 June 1942:
Fitted with one 8cm/40cal deck gun under instruction No. 7246.
29 June 1942:
Departs Kure.
14 July 1942:
Attached to Vice Admiral Takahashi Ibo’s (36) Southwest Area Fleet.
22 July 1942:
Arrives at Roi, Kwajalein atoll, Marshalls. Departs later.
24 July 1942:
Arrives at Roi in convoy with SHINKOKU MARU escorted by destroyer TACHIKAZE.
4 August 1942:
Departs Taroa.
7 August 1942:
Arrives at Wake Is.
8 August 1942:
Departs Wake Is.
20 August 1942:
Arrives at Kure.
2 September 1942:
Departs Yokosuka.
15 October 1942:
Arrives at Shimonoseki.
1 October 1942:
Attached to Vice Admiral Kusaka Jinichi’s (37) 11th Air Fleet.
1 November 1942:
Attached to Southeast Forces, Air Force Base, Transport and Supply Unit.
19 November 1942:
At 1500 departs Rabaul in a convoy also consisting of tanker KYOEI MARU.
The minelayer HATSUTAKA joins from Kavieng, New Ireland, Bismarcks Archipelago (now Papua New Guinea) as escort for part of the way.
22 November 1942:
HATSUTAKA ceases escort and heads towards Rabaul.
1 January 1943:
Attached to Southeast Forces, Air Force Base.
14 February 1943:
Attached to the 19th Air Force Base.
24 February 1943:
Departs Shimonoseki.
25 February 1943:
Arrives at Sasebo.
7 March 1943:
Departs Sasebo.
31 March 1943:
Ownership is changed to Nishi Taiyo Gyogyo Tosei K.K.
1 April 1943:
Attached directly to the Combined Fleet.
? April 1943:
Departs Truk for Yokosuka.
19 April 1943:
About 108 nautical miles NW of Iwo Jima. At 1100, LtCdr (later Cdr) Royce L. Gross' (USNA '30) USS SEAWOLF (SS-197) running submerged, fires two Mk. XIV Type 3A torpedoes and scores one hit on BANSHU MARU No. 5. She rapidly sinks by the bow at 26-15N, 139-35E with the loss of 14 crewmen.
1 September 1943:
Removed from the Navy’s list under instruction No. 1823.
Authors' Notes:
[1] NRT is a ship's cargo volume capacity expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of 100 cubic feet (2.83 m3). It is calculated by subtracting non-revenue-earning spaces i.e. spaces not available for carrying cargo, for example engine rooms, fuel tanks and crew quarters, from the ship's gross register tonnage (GRT). Net register tonnage (NRT) is not a measure of the weight of the ship or its cargo, and should not be confused with terms such as deadweight tonnage or displacement.
[2] There were two categories of Kyuryosen. (Ko) category with an IJN Captain as supervisor aboard and (Otsu) category without.
Thanks go to Gengoro S. Toda of Japan.
- Berend van der Wal, Gilbert Casse and Peter Cundall.
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