Japanese Transports

ZATSUYOSEN!

(HAKONESAN MARU prewar)

IJN HAKONESAN MARU:
Tabular Record of Movement
© 2012-2018 Gilbert Casse, Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall
Revision 1

25 July 1928:
Tama. Laid down by Mitsui Bussan K.K. Zosenbu Kojo shipyard as a 6,673-ton refrigerated cargo ship for Mitsui Bussan K.K., Kobe.
14 March 1929:
Launched and named HAKONESAN MARU.
29 May 1929:
Completed and registered in Kobe with 6,675 Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) and 4,086 Net Registered Tonnage (NRT). [1]
April 1929:
Placed on Mitsui Bussan’s North America route.
1932:
Her GRT and NRT are respectively changed to 6,675-tons and 4,085-tons.
August 1932:
Placed on Mitsui Bussan’s New-York route.
January 1934:
Undergoes an overhaul during which HAKONESAN MARU is fitted with a deep tank.
1936:
Her GRT and NRT are respectively changed to 6,673-tons and 4,040-tons.
August 1936:
Chartered to Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK) and placed on their South America East Coast service.
1937:
Her NRT is changed to 4,078-tons.
3 June 1938:
Requisitioned by the IJN as a general requisitioned transport and attached to the Sasebo Naval District.
E 1938:
Captain Yoshida Eisuke is appointed Commanding Officer (CO).
27 November 1938:
Departs Sasebo for China.
E 30 November 1938:
Arrives at Shanghai.
5 December 1938:
Departs Shanghai.
13 November 1939:
Departs Shanghai.
23 May 1940:
Captain Yoshida is relieved by an unknown officer as CO.
15 October 1941:
Registered in the IJN as an auxiliary transport (Otsu) category under internal order No. 1256 and attached to the Yokosuka Naval District with Yokosuka as home port. [2]
3 December 1941:
Departs Tokyo.
13 December 1941:
Arrives at Majuro Atoll, Marshalls.
16 December 1941:
Departs Majuro.
17 December 1941:
Arrives at Kwajalein, Marshalls.
9 January 1942:
Departs Kwajalein and arrives that same day at Roi-Namur, Marshalls.
21 January 1942:
Departs Roi-Namur.
22 January 1942:
Arrives at Eniwetok, Marshalls.
27 January 1942:
Departs Eniwetok for Japan.
3 February 1942:
Arrives at Yokosuka.
6 February 1942:
Departs Yokosuka.
9 February 1942:
Arrives at Sasebo.
17 February 1942:
Departs Sasebo.
23 February 1942:
Arrives at Davao, Mindanao.
26 February 1942:
At 0700 departs Davao in a convoy also consisting of oiler NOTORO, auxiliary destroyer tender KAMIKAZE MARU and auxiliary transport SENKO MARU escorted by minelayer TSUBAME.

28 February 1942:
At 1600, HAKONESAN MARU detaches.
1 March 1942:
Arrives at Macassar.
10 March 1942:
Departs Macassar.
16 March 1942:
Arrives at Saigon, Indochina (now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).
25 March 1942:
Departs Saigon for Japan.
4 April 1942:
Arrives at Tokyo.
10 April 1942:
Departs Tokyo.
12 April 1942:
Arrives at Tamano, Okayama Prefecture.
14 April 1942:
Enters dock at Mitsui Engineering and shipbuilding K.K., Tamano shipyard for maintenance and repairs.
5 May 1942:
Repairs are completed. Undocked.
6 May 1942:
Departs Tamano.
7 May 1942:
Arrives at Kure.
10 May 1942:
Departs Kure.
11 May 1942:
Arrives at Misumi, Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu.
18 May 1942:
Departs Misumi for Formosa.
22 May 1942:
Arrives at Takao, Formosa (now Kaohsiung, Taiwan).
29 May 1942:
Departs Takao.
31 May 1942:
Arrives at Yulin, Hainan Island, China.
13 June 1942:
Departs Yulin.
16 June 1942:
Arrives at Mako (Makung), Pescadores. Departs later that same day for Japan in convoy No. 223 also consisting of IJA transports SHINTO, TOTAI, KOKO, OSAKA, INDUS, KACHOSAN MARUs, YOSHIDA MARU No. 1, civilian cargo ship ANZAN MARU and six unidentified merchant ships escorted by destroyer WAKATAKE and torpedo boat SAGI.
20 June 1942:
Arrives at Sasebo.
21 June 1942:
Departs Sasebo.
22 June 1942:
Arrives at Moji.
23 June 1942:
Tranfers to Yawata, Fukuoka Prefecture.
28 June 1942:
Tranfers to Tokuyama, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Probably replenishes her fuel tanks.
29 June 1942:
Departs Tokuyama.
30 June 1942:
Arrives at Osaka, Hyogo Prefecture.
6 July 1942:
Departs Osaka.
7 July 1942:
Arrives at Mutsure, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
8 July 1942:
Departs Mutsure.
11 July 1942:
Arrives at Satsukawa Wan (Bay), Amami-Oshima, Ryukyus.
12 July 1942:
Departs Satsukawa Wan.
16 July 1942:
Arrives at Takao.
22 July 1942:
Departs Takao.
26 July 1942:
Arrives at Port Courbet, French Indochina (now Ha Long, Vietnam).
31 July 1942:
Tranfers to Port Campha, French Indochina (now Cam Pha, Vietnam).
3 August 1942:
Departs Port Campha for Japan.
10 August 1942:
Arrives at Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture.
13 August 1942:
Transfers to Tokyo.
17 August 1942:
Departs Tokyo.
19 August 1942:
Arrives at Tamano.
20 August 1942:
Enters dock at Mitsui Engineering and shipbuilding K.K., Tamano shipyard for maintenance and repairs.
24 August 1942:
Repairs are completed. Undocked.
25 September 1942:
Departs Tamano.
26 September 1942:
Arrives at Kure.
27 September 1942:
Departs Kure.
2 October 1942:
Arrives at Shikuka, Karafuto (now Poronaisk, Sakhalin, Russia).
13 October 1942:
Departs Shikuka.
15 October 1942:
Arrives at Hakodate, Hokkaido.
16 October 1942:
Departs Hakodate for Tokyo.
18 October 1942:
Night. About 15nms E of Haramachi-shi, Fukushima Prefecture, LtCdr (later Rear Admiral) Henry C. Bruton’s (USNA ’26) USS GREENLING (SS-213), on his third war patrol, spots a large cargo ship. At 0300, Bruton attacks, firing three torpedoes. The first one hits and sets the transport aflame, but the second torpedo runs erratically, circles and almost hits GREELING. The next runs true and hits the target again. At 0340, HAKONESAN MARU sinks at 37-35N, 141-30E taking down 14 of her crew.
15 November 1942:
Removed from the Navy’s list under internal order No. 2119.

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 substracting 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 Zatsuyosen. (Ko) category with an IJN Captain as supervisor aboard and (Otsu) category without.

Thanks go to Gengoro S. Toda of Japan and Berend van der Wal of Netherlands.

Gilbert Casse, Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall

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