© 2009 Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall
31 July 1944:
Tsurumi, Yokohama. Laid down at Nippon Steel Tubing.
15 October 1944:
Launched and numbered CD-49.
16 November 1944:
Completed and registered in the Yokosuka Naval District. Attached to the Kure Guard Unit.
4 December 1944:
Departs Yokosuka, Tokyo Bay for Saeki, northeast Kyushu. After arrival, CD-49 carries out anti-submarine and general training at the anti-submarine school based there.
December 1944-January 1945:
Engages in training from dawn to dusk, sometimes submarine RO-500 (ex-German U-511) is utilized as a target during search and attack exercises.
18 January 1945:
Attached to the Yokosuka Guard Unit.
20 January 1945:
Anti-submarine training is completed. Departs Saeki for Kure and arrives the same day. CD-49 then enters drydock for some fitting-out work. Later, loads fuel, ammunition, clothing, food and canteen goods.
26 January 1945:
Departs Kure for Yokosuka.
5 February 1945:
CD-49 departs Yokosuka for Chichi-Jima, Ogasawara Gunto, (Bonin Islands) with CD-56 and an auxiliary submairne-chaser escorting 1,924 ton freighter KURETAKE MARU and two 300-ton small freighters. The captain of CD-56 is the convoy commander.
6 February 1945:
The convoy anchors in Tateyama Bay for the night. That evening, the ships huddle together, facing into a strong northwest wind. Flames are seen rising high in the air after a USAAF B-29 heavy-bomber raid on Tokyo.
7 February 1945:
Early. The convoy departs Tateyama Bay and heads southward. 10 miles east of Mikura-Jima, KURETAKE MARU is torpedoed by LtCdr Robert B. Lander's USS RONQUIL (SS-396). KURETAKE MARU is forced to retire towards Tokyo Bay with CD-56 as escort. The flag of the convoy is handed over to CD-49. She and the rest of the convoy continue southward.
9 February 1945:
Arrives at Chichi-Jima. At the time of entry into Futami Harbour, the convoy is shadowed by a lone B-24 heavy-bomber. However, no attack develops. Soon after arrival, CD-49 is detached and heads northward to Tokyo Bay. At 1500, lookouts claim they see an enemy periscope. CD-49 remains in the area for a few hours conducting a sweep. Finally, at 2100, an underwater contact is made and a depth charge attack begun. A sinking is claimed. The identity of the submarine, if there was one, remains unknown.
10 February 1945:
At 2000, a contact is gained on an unknown vessel, range 3,000 metres. As CD-49 draws closer, the conclusion is drawn that it is a surfaced enemy submarine. All hands go to battle-stations as the submarine submerges. A depth charge attack follows. It brings up air bubbles and oil amidst a phosphorescent glow in the water. Another sinking is claimed, but also cannot be substantiated.
11 February 1945:
While in the Uraga Channel, CD-49 is attacked by carrier-based enemy aircraft returning from attacks in the Tokyo-Yokohama region. CD-49 claims shooting down three without incurring injury. The same day, she arrives at Yokosuka.
16 February 1945:
Yokosuka. CD-49 begins repairs and maintenance work .
2 March 1945:
CD-49 departs Yokosuka as an escort of a small unidentified convoy destined for Hachijo-Jima, south of Tokyo Bay.
5 March 1945:
Arrives back at Yokosuka.
9 March 1945:
Departs Yokosuka with another small convoy bound for Hachijo-Jima. After concluding the mission, CD-49 spends the rest of the month on anti-submarine patrol duty in the Tokyo-Hachijo-Jima shipping lane.
2 April 1945:
Arrives at Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture.
5 April 1945:
Arrives at Ominato, northern Honshu. Soon after, cruises to Otaru, western Hokkaido and joins the Otaru convoy force. Escorts shipping between Otaru and the Kurile Islands chain.
2 June 1945:
Arrives at Otaru.
3 June 1945:
Departs Otaru with CD-6 and a convoy bound for Matsuwa Island, Central Kurile Islands.
10 June 1945:
Sea of Okhotsk. Soon after noon, LtCdr Otis R. Cole's USS DACE (SS-247) attacks the convoy. Cole torpedoes and sinks 1,391-ton freighter HAKUYO MARU. The submarine also fires a Mark-27 "Cutie" homing-torpedo at the escorts, but fails to score. After rescuing survivors, the escorts search the area, but failed to gain contact. The convoy goes onward to its destination.
June 1945:
The escorts arrive at Wakkanai, northern Hokkaido.
June 1945:
CD-49 escorts a ferry between Honto, Karafuto (southern Sakhalin) and Wakkanai.
9 July 1945:
Arrives at Ominato. While at anchor with other vessels, they are attacked a number of times by carrier-based aircraft. In one such attack, CD-49 incurs slight damage by machine-gun strafing. A number of men receive slight wounds, but none are killed.
15 August 1945:
Tokyo. Japan accepts the Allies “Potsdam Declaration” (of unconditional surrender) and hostilities cease.
CD-49 is at Ominato.
30 November 1945:
Removed from the Navy List. Hereafter, serves as a minesweeper in the northern part of the Sea of Japan, attached to the Ominato Minesweeping Force. [1]
15 January 1947:
Yokosuka. CD-49 is designated a Laid-up Reserve Warship.
1 September 1947:
After being ceded as a war reparation to the USA, CD-49 arrives at Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, southern Honshu.
2 August 1948:
1948:
Shimizu. Scrapped.
Authors' Notes:
[1] In 1945, the U. S. Army Air Force launched a five-phased campaign known as “Operation Starvation” to mine Japan’s home waters. The USAAF used 80 to 100 B-29 “Super Fortress” heavy bombers of the 21st Bomber Command based at Tinian in the Marianas. The B-29s could carry seven 2,000 lb. or twelve 1,000 lb. mines.
Beginning on 27 March 1945 and continuing until 5 August 1945, the B-29s flew 1,529 nighttime radar sorties and laid 4,900 magnetic, 3,500 acoustic, 2,900 pressure and 700 low-frequency mines for a total of more than 12,000 mines laid in Japanese waters. These mines sank 294 ships, damaged 137 beyond repair and damaged another 239 that could be repaired. The total was 1, 250,000 tons sunk or damaged or about 75 percent of Japanese shipping available in March 1945. Only 15 B-29s were lost during the mining campaign.
Postwar, removal of these mines posed a major challenge for the Allied Occupation Forces. They pressed 269 Japanese ships of various types into mine sweeping service to augment their own efforts.
Special thanks go to Bill Somerville of the USA.
-Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall
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