KUSENTEI!
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(Subchaser No. 46 by Takeshi Yuki scanned from "Color Paintings of
Japanese Warships")
IJN Subchaser CH-53:
Tabular Record of Movement
© 2005-2009 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall
Revision 1
1943:
Osaka. Laid down at Naniwa Dockyard.
1943:
Launched and numbered CH-53.
20 March 1944:
Completed and registered in the Yokosuka Naval District. Attached to the Yokosuka Guard Force.
April 1944:
Escorts convoys between Yokosuka and Manila.
1 June 1944:
At 0345, USN codebreakers intercept and decrypt a message that reads: “Subchaser No. 53 proceed immediately to present position NIPPONKAI MARU convoy which sustained a torpedo attack this morning at 0345 in position 18-04N, 141-18E, and engage in escort of this convoy--.”
12 September 1944:
LtCdr Marshall H. Austin’s USS REDFIN (SS-272) fires three torpedoes at TOSHO MARU at 05-27S, 120-28E, but they all run under her. CH-53 counterattacks, but Austin successfully evades and escapes.
27 November 1944: Operation “TA No. 6” :
CH-53, CH-45 and patrol boat PB-105 (ex-Philippines Customs Cruiser ARAYAT) depart Manila for Ormoc Bay Leyte, Philippines escorting a convoy consisting of SHINSHO and SHINETSU MARU.
28 November 1944:
The convoy arrives off Ormoc and begins unloading. Destroyers USS WALLER (DD-466), SAUFLEY (DD-465), RENSHAW (DD-499) and PRINGLE (DD-477) attack the convoy and sink CH-53 by gunfire at 10-48N, 124-35E. [1]
10 January 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.
Authors’ Note:
[1] Some sources claim CH-53 and patrol boat PB-105 were torpedoed and sunk by American patrol torpedo boats PT-127 and PT-331.
Thanks go to John Whitman for info on CNO intercepts of Japanese messages.
-Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall.
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