KUSENTEI!

© 2005-2008 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall

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7 May 1938:
Tsurumi. Laid down at the Sakurajima Iron Works shipyard.

2 June 1939:
Launched and numbered CH-6.

20 May 1939:
Completed.

8 December 1941:
Takao, Formosa. 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. Attached to the Philippines Seizure Force in Cdr Ota's SubChasDiv 21 with CH-4, CH-6, CH-16, CH-17 and CH-18.

22 December 1941: The Invasion of the Philippines:
Lingayen Gulf. Three echelons of 76 transports carrying the main part of LtGen Homma Masaharu's Fourteenth Army land at Lingayen. SubChasDiv 21 escorts Rear Admiral Hirose's third echelon of 22 transports from Keelung, Formosa.

January 1942:
Conducts patrols from Davao.

24 February 1942: Operation "J" - The Invasion of Java, Netherlands East Indies:
Participates in the landings at Bantam Bay, near Batavia (Jakarta), Java.

8-12 March 1942:
Participates in the capture of Surabaya, Java.

10 March 1942:
Assigned to Vice Admiral Takahashi's Southwest Area Fleet's newly formed Second Southern Expeditionary Fleet in Special Base Force 22 organized at Surabaya with CH-4 and CH-5. Escorts convoys to Balikpapan, Borneo.

January 1943:
Escorts convoys to Ambon.

July 1943:
Based at Balikpapan, Borneo. Escorts tanker convoys as far west as Surabaya and as far east as Palau.

9 October 1943:
At about 1100, LtCdr Marvin J. Jensen's USS PUFFER (SS-268) torpedoes and damages tanker KUMAGAWA MARU at 01-07N, 119-30E.

11 October 1943:
CH-6 escorts KUMAGAWA MARU while she is salvaged and towed to Balikpapan.

23 October 1943:
At 0750, CH-6 departs Balikpapan for Truk escorting tankers NICHIEI and KENYO MARUs as far as longitude 129.00E.

30 November 1943:
At 0700, CH-6 departs Balikpapan with and one unidentified warship escorting tankers AZUMA, KOKUYO and KENYO MARUs en route to Truk via Palau.

3 December 1943:
LtCdr (later Rear Admiral) Lawrence R. Daspit's USS TINOSA (SS-283) sights the convoy and makes an approach, but the convoy zigs and ruins the setup. Daspit fires three torpedoes "up the kilt" at AZUMA MARU. At 1947 (I), one hits and sets her afire. She slows, then settles lower in the water and drops out of the convoy. TINOSA moves in on the surface, but AZUMA MARU opens fire with her deck guns and machine-guns. Daspit crash dives and closes to point blank range. At 2121, he fires three more torpedoes that blow up and sink AZUMA MARU at 06-34N, 131-40E. The remainder of the convoy continues towards Palau.

4 December 1943:
At 1200, arrives at Palau. CH-6 probably is detached.

13 December 1943:
At 0715, convoy No. 2515 departs Palau consisting of ammunition ship ARATAMA MARU and tanker SHINKOKU MARU bound for Balikpapan and tankers FUJISAN and HAKUBASAN MARUs, OGURA MARU No. 3, and small cargo ship SHOYU MARU bound for Tarakan, escorted by patrol boat PB-2 with auxiliary subchasers CHa-26 and CHa-27.

17 December 1943:
At 1700, CH-6 joins the escort. At midnight, CH-6 and the Tarakan-bound ships split away from the convoy.

19 December 1943:
At 1045, arrives at Balikpapan.

16 January 1944:
At 0830, CH-6 departs Palau for Balikpapan, Borneo with auxiliary subchaser Cha-32 escorting convoy No. 2517 consisting of IJA Landing ship carrier SHINSHU MARU and HARUNA and KYOSEI MARUs. At 2155, HARUNA and KYOSEI MARUs collide. At 2211, HARUNA MARU sinks.

21 January 1944:
The convoy's destination is changed to Tarakan, Borneo.

22 January 1944:
At 1630, arrives at Tarakan. JAMBI MARU joins the convoy escorted by auxiliary subchasers Cha-41 and Cha-46.

26 January 1944:
At 1545, departs Tarakan.

28 January 1944:
At 1630, arrives at Balikpapan.

15 March 1944:
At 0730, CH-6 departs Balikpapan for Palau with destroyers HARUSAME and SHIRATSUYU, minesweeper W-36, and auxiliary subchaser CHa-52 escorting an unnumbered convoy consisting of three echelons. The first echelon consists of fleet oilers IRO and tankers NAGISAN MARU and HISHI MARU No. 2. The second echelon consists of fleet oiler TSURUMI, tanker KYOEI MARU and cargo ship RAIZAN MARU and the third echelon consists only of cargo ship HOKUTAI MARU.

16 March 1944:
At 1530, destroyer MICHISHIO joins the convoy and the other escorts depart.

15 April 1944:
At 0600, CH-6 departs Tokyo with CH-10 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.

23 April 1944:
At 0600, arrives at Saipan.

30-31 March 1944: American Operation “Desecrate One” :
Palau. The anchorage is attacked by F6F "Hellcats", SBD "Dauntless", TBF "Avenger" and SB2C "Helldiver" carrier aircraft of Task Group 58. 1's USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6), BELLEAU WOOD (CVL-24) and COWPENS (CVL-25), TG 58. 2's BUNKER HILL (CV-17), HORNET (CV-12), MONTEREY (CV-26) and CABOT (CVL-28) and TG 58. 3's YORKTOWN (CV-10), LEXINGTON (CV-16), PRINCETON (CVL-23) and LANGLEY (CVL-27). TF 58’s planes bomb and sink CH-6 and damage many other ships at 07-30N, 134-30E.

10 October 1944:
Removed from the Navy List.

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-Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall.

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