KUSENTEI!

© 2005-2009 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall

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16 September 1938:
Osaka. Laid down at the Sakurajima Ironworks shipyard.

31 January 1939:
Launched and numbered CH-10.

15 June 1939:
Completed.

7 December 1941: Operation "M" - The Invasion of the Northern Philippines:
CH-10 is assigned to Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Hirose Sueto's (former CO of AOBA) 2nd Base Force of Vice Admiral Takahashi Ibo's (36) (former CO of KIRISHIMA) Third Fleet and attached to the Philippines Seizure Force in Cdr Sawamura's SubChasDiv 31 with CH-11 and CH-12. At 1630, departs Mako, Pescadores.

10 December 1941:
Luzon, Philippines. Six transports, carrying 2,000 men of the Kanno Detachment of the 48th Infantry Division, land troops near Vigan, but are bombed and strafed by five Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" and escorting Seversky P-35A "Guardsman" and Curtiss P-40B "Kittyhawk" fighters of the U. S. Army's Far East Air Force. During the action, a minesweeper is sunk and two transports are so damaged they have to be beached.

7 January 1942: The Invasion of Dutch Borneo:
CH-10 departs Davao with SubChasDiv 31’s CH-11 and CH-12, patrol boats PB-36, Pb-37 and Pb-38, Minesweeper Division 11’s W-13, W-14, W-15, W-16, 30th Minesweeper Division’s W-17, W-18 and other auxiliary ships escorting Rear-Admiral Hirose’s Tarakan Occupation Force that includes Army transports TSURUGA, LIVERPOOL, HAVANA, KURETAKE, NICHIAI, HITERU, TEIRYU, HANKOW and EHIME MARUs carrying MajGen Sakaguchi Shizuo’s 56th Mixed Infantry Group and the Kure No. 2 Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) and Navy transports KUNIKAWA, KANO, KAGU, KOKUYO and RAKUTO MARUs. Close cover is provided by Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Nishimura Shoji’s DesRon 4’s light cruiser NAKA with DesDiv 2’s HARUSAME, SAMIDARE, YUDACHI and MURUSAME, DesDiv 9’s ASAGUMO and MINEGUMO, NATSUGUMO and DesDiv 24’s UMIKAZE, KAWASKAZE, YAMAKAZE and SUZUKAZE. The 21st Air Flotilla’s tenders SANUKI and SANYO MARUs provide air cover .

11 January 1942:
Rear Admiral Hirose's Force invades Tarakan, Borneo.

21 January 1942:
Rear Admiral Hirose's Balikpapan Invasion Convoy departs Tarakan departs Tarakan, Borneo with KURETAKE, HAVANA, EHIME, LIVERPOOL, KAMOGAWA, TEIRYU, HITERU, TSURAGA HANKOW, NISSHO, KANAYAMASAN, TATSUGAMI, NANA, SUMANOURA, TOEI, ASAHISAN and NITTEI MARUs carrying the Balikpapan Invasion Force consisting of the Sakaguchi Detachment (56th Regimental Group) and the Kure No. 2 SNLF escorted by patrol boats PB-36, PB-37, PB-38, minesweepers W-15, W-16, W-17, W-18 and SubChasDiv 31's CH-10, CH-11 and CH-12. Cover is provided by light cruiser NAKA with DesDiv 2's YUDACHI, SAMIDARE, MURASAME, HARUSAME, DesDiv 9's ASAGUMO, MINEGUMO, NATSUGUMO and DesDiv 24's KAWAKAZE and UMIKAZE. Seaplane tenders SANUKI and SANYO MARUs provide air cover.

Poor weather hampers air reconnaissance by ABDA (American-British-Dutch-Australian) forces, but ABDA Air finally locates the invasion force. ABDA deploys submarines USS S-40, PORPOISE (SS-172), PICKEREL (SS-177), STURGEON (SS-187), SAURY (SS-189) and SPEARFISH (SS-190) and Dutch submarines K-XIV and K-XVIII to intercept the IJN force.

Timor, Kupang Bay. Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) William A. Glassford's Task Force 5's light cruisers USS MARBLEHEAD (CL-12), BOISE (CL-47) and Cdr Paul H. Talbot's DesDiv 59's old destroyers PARROTT (DD-218), POPE (DD-225), JOHN D. FORD (DD-228) and PAUL JONES (DD-230) are ordered to stop the invasion force, but BOISE runs aground and MARBLEHEAD develops engine trouble. DesDiv 59 is detached and increases speed to arrive at Balikpapan at midnight on January 23rd.

23 January 1942: The Invasion of Balikpapan, Borneo:
Storms protect the invasion force until it is almost to Balikpapan. At 1525, nine Dutch Martin Model 166 (B-10) bombers from Samarinda attack and hit transports TATSUGAMI and NANA MARUs. The latter is abandoned and later sinks. TATSUGAMI MARU continues on to Balikpapan. At 2045, Hirose's invasion convoy arrives and anchors off Balikpapan. At 2130, the transports begin disembarking troops.

10 March 1942:
Reassigned to Vice Admiral Takahashi's Southwest Area Fleet's newly formed Third Southern Expeditionary Fleet in Special Base Force 31 organized at Manila. CH-10 engages in the blockade of Manila Bay.

1 May 1942:
Reassigned to the Kure Guard Unit based at Saeki. Conducts anti-submarine patrols in the Bungo Straits.

2 October 1942:
CH-10 departs Saeki for Rabaul, New Britain with subchasers CH-11 and CH-12 escorting convoy OKI-6 consisting of HAVANA, TOYO, EHIME, YASKUNI and SUMIYOSHI MARUs.

14 October 1942:
LtCdr Lucius H. Chappell's USS SCULPIN (SS-191) torpedoes and sinks SUMIYOSHI MARU at 03-15S, 149-50E.

15 October 1942:
Arrives at Rabaul.

16 October 1942:
Reassigned to the 4th Base Force at Truk. Escorts convoys near Truk.

26 February 1943:
CH-10 departs Truk escorting convoy with fleet oiler TSURUMI and tanker HISHI MARU No. 2.

13 March 1943:
Arrives at Palembang, Sumatra.

14 March 1943:
Arrives at Balikpapan, Borneo.

May 1943:
Arrives at Maizuru. Undergoes refit and repairs.

1 June 1943:
CH-10, and possibly CH-16, depart Yokosuka escorting convoy No. 1101 consisting of KUNIKAWA MARU.

10 June 1943:
Arrives at Takao.

13 June 1943:
At 1000, arrives Rabaul.

July 1943:
Reassigned to Rabaul.

15 July 1943:
At 0930, CH-10 departs Saeki with torpedo boat HATO, minesweeper W-18 and auxiliary minesweeper TAMA MARU No. 7 escorting convoy O-505 consisting of KOZAN, CHINZEI, SAIPAN, BRAZIL and RYUKO MARUs.

21 July 1943:
At about 1230, LtCdr (later Rear Admiral-Ret) Roy M. Davenport's USS HADDOCK (SS-231) torpedoes and sinks SAIPAN MARU at 16-29N, 123-57E.

24 July 1943:
Arrives at Palau.

7 August 1943:
At 1100, CH-10 departs Rabaul with subchaser CH-24 escorting a convoy consisting of food stores ship ARASAKI and NICHIYO and SUMIYOSHI MARUs and HINO MARU No. 5.

9 August 1943:
Arrives at Shortland, Bougainville.

10 August 1943:
At 1500, departs Shortland for Rabaul escorting a convoy consisting of GIYU MARU and SHINSEI MARU No. 18.

12 August 1943:
At 0600, arrives at Rabaul.

14 August 1943:
At 2200, CH-10 departs Rabaul for Shortland escorting a convoy consisting of KYOSEI, KAMI and SHINKAI MARUs plus two fishing boats.

17 August 1943:
At 0300, arrives at Shortland.

24 August 1943:
At 0600, CH-10 departs Rabaul for Shortland escorting a convoy consisting of FUKUEI, KISARAGI and GIYU MARUs and KOSHU MARU No. 2 and TSUKINADA MARU No. 8.

26 August 1943:
At 0500, arrives at Shortland.

29 August 1943:
At 1200, departs Shortland for Rabaul escorting a convoy consisting of HEIWA, TAKUEI, KISARAGI and GIYU MARUs

30 August 1943:
E of Bougainville. Attacked and damaged severely by American aircraft while escorting a convoy. CH-10 is taken under tow and arrives at Bougainville at 1900 that same day.

14 November 1943:
At 1200, convoy No. 4114 departs Truk consisting of UDO, NIKKO, CHIYO and HOKKO MARUs escorted by destroyer YUZUKI, kaibokan FUKUE and PB-46. HOKKO MARU is towing damaged CH-10.

19 November 1943:
Northern Marianas. In the early morning hours, Cdr (MOH, posthumously) Samuel Dealey's USS HARDER (SS-257) makes radar contact off the port quarter of the convoy. Dealey makes an "end around" then submerges 15,000 yards ahead of the convoy. He waits until YUZUKI passes 800 yards across his stern then fires his six bow torpedoes at two large transports and gets five hits. At 0415, HOKKO MARU sinks at 0415 at 22-27N, 147-15E. Dealey swings HARDER around and fires his four stern tubes. At 0435, UDO MARU is hit and badly damaged.

YUZUKI takes UDO MARU in tow, but at 1040, the transport's hull splits and the aft part of the ship sinks. CHIYO MARU takes up towing CH-10 and heads for Chichi-Jima with FUKUE. Later, NIKKO MARU is ordered back to assist in the tow of UDO MARU. At 1850, NIKKO MARU arrives back on the scene, but experiences great difficulty trying to tow UDO MARU. Finally, the wreck is abandoned and sinks a few hours later.

The escorts counterattack and drive HARDER deep under a thermocline layer of cold water. Dealey's crew counts 64 depth depth charges dropped over the next five hours during which they reload all tubes. HARDER surfaces early in the afternoon and takes up the chase again. That night, Dealey closes to 1,000 yards of the convoy and fires four Mark 14-3A steam torpedoes at a transport, but they all run deep and pass under the target. Dealey makes another "end around" and submerges 12,000 yards ahead of the convoy. He sets up and at 2355, fires three bow torpedoes and gets one hit in NIKKO MARU's stern.

20 November 1943:
The Japanese get NIKKO MARU's pumps running and efficiently control the flooding. In the early morning hours, HARDER fires three more stern torpedoes at her, but they all miss. Out of torpedoes, a frustrated Sam Dealey departs the area, but NIKKO MARU later loses her battle with the sea and sinks.

27 November 1943:
Arrives at Yokosuka. Transfers to Yokohama and undergoes repairs at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. shipyard.

5 December 1943:
CH-10 departs Moji with destroyer NUMAKAZE escorting convoy No. 119 consisting of GINREI, TAKETOYO, HORAI MARUs and other unidentified merchant ships.

10 December 1943 :
GINREI and HORAI MARUs are detached.

11 December 1943:
Arrives at Takao.

15 April 1944:
At 0600, CH-10 departs Tokyo with CH-6 and CH-12, destroyers HOKAZE, YUNAGI, UZUKI, kaibokan MIYAKE, minesweepers W-20 and W-28 and minelayers SARUSHIMA, KYOSAI and YURISHIMA escorting convoy Higashi-Matsu No. 6 consisting of AWAJI, HAKUBA, KATSUKAWA, TAKAOKA, BATAVIA, AWA and HOKUSHIN MARUs bound for Saipan, CHOAN MARU No. 2 and MIKAGE MARU No. 1 bound for Truk, JOKUJA, BISAN and JINSAN MARUs bound for Palau, KAMISHIMA and SHOZAN MARUs bound for Wolei, INARI and TONEGAWA MARUs bound for Guam and TATSUAKI and TAMAHOKO MARUs bound for Chichi-Jima (2).

23 April 1944:
At 0600, arrives at Saipan.

1 May 1944:
While nearing Palau, JOKUJA, BISAN and JINSAN MARUs and CH-10 run aground on the N tip of Palau atoll.

2 May 1944:
CH-10 is wrecked and abandoned at 07-20N, 134-30E, but the others are refloated successfully.

10 November 1944:
Removed from the Navy List.

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-Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall.

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