Japanese Auxiliary Submarine Depot Ship

TOKUSETSU SENSUI-BOKAN!

(Chogei by Takeshi Yuki scanned from "Color Paintings of Japanese Warships")

IJN Auxiliary Submarine Depot Ship
HIE MARU: Tabular Record of Movement
© 1998-2008 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall.
Revision 1

25 May 1929:
Yokohama. Laid down as a 11,621-ton passenger-cargo liner at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd's shipyard for Nippon Yusen Kaisha Kisen (NYK) (Japan Mail Steamship Company), Tokyo.
12 February 1930:
Launched and named the HIE MARU. Sister ship of the HEIAN MARU and the HIKAWA MARU
31 July 1930:
Completed.
23 August 1930:
Departs Kobe for Seattle, Washington on her maiden voyage.
15 September 1930:
The City of Yokohama presents to the City of Seattle an eight-ton Taiko-Gata stone lantern in gratitude for Seattle's assistance after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. The lantern is placed in Seward Park.
1931:
As a return gift, the City of Seattle sends 1,000 rose shrubs, comprising about 50 varieties, on the HIE MARU to the City of Yokohama.
1940:
In service on the South America-Saigon route.
22 September 1940:
Vichy France cedes airfields and agrees to admission of Japanese troops into northern Indochina (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam).
26 September 1940:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in response to Japanese actions in Indochina, bans the export of steel and aviation fuel to Japan and declares an embargo on scrap steel effective 15 October 1940.
11 October 1940:
The Seattle "Post-Intelligencer" newspaper reports that old rails from city’s street car lines are being loaded on the HIE MARU. The mayor asks U.S. Customs to stop the ship and the city council asks for federal intervention, but the ship sails before the embargo goes into effect.
January 1941:
Seattle. A plot is discovered to blow up HIE MARU at the Great Northern Dock by a 28-year-old school teacher from British Columbia, Canada. The conspirators, in protest against the war in China and the shipment of scrap metal and other materials to Japan, improvise a bomb made of 369 sticks of dynamite and connect it to a clock timer device. Upon the HIE MARU’s arrival at Vancouver, it is planned to float the bomb to the ship's side. The plot is later moved to Seattle where the teacher's body is found floating.
7 July 1941:
Arrives at Seattle.
22 September 1941:
Departs Kobe for India.
21 November 1941:
Returns to Kobe.
26 November 1941:
Requisitioned by the IJN.
7 December 1941:
At Kwajalein, Marshall Islands.
January 1942:
Departs Tokuyama for Davao, Phillipines.
15 February 1942:
Arrives at Tarakan, Borneo. Unloads machinery for oil field development.
That same day, HIE MARU is designated for conversion to a submarine depot ship assigned to the Yokosuka Naval District. Captain (Rear Admiral, posthumously) Shinoda Kiyohiko is posted as the Commanding Officer.
9 March 1942:
Arrives at Yokosuka Navy Yard. Begins conversion. Six 5.9-inch (150-mm) single mount guns, one 3.5 m range finder, two dual 13.2-mm machine guns, one 1100-mm diameter and one 900-mm diameter search light are fitted.
10 April 1942:
HIE MARU is assigned to Vice Admiral, the Marquis, Komatsu Teruhisa's (former CO of CA NACHI) Sixth Fleet (Submarines) in Captain (later Rear Admiral) Ishizaki Noboru's (former CO of HYUGA) SubRon 8 as tender for flagship I-10 and SubDiv 1 (I-16, I-18, I-20), SubDiv 3 (I-21, I-22, I-24) and SubDiv 14 (I-27, I-29, I-29, I-30).
25 April 1942:
Completes conversion.
14 July 1942:
Penang, Malaya. HIE MARU is in Captain (later Rear Admiral) Ishizaki Noboru's (former CO of HYUGA) SubRon 8 as tender for flagship I-10 and SubDivs 1, 3 and 14.
25 July 1942:
Arrives at Yokosuka.
October 1942:
Departs Hong Kong for the Shortland Islands, Bougainville.
11 November 1942:
Supports submarine operations to replenish IJA units on Guadalcanal.
28 December 1942:
Captain Arima Naoshi (36) assumes command. Later, Captain Shinoda assumes command of ISUZU.
1 January 1943:
Penang. HIE MARU is SubRon 8's tender for flagship 1-10 and SubDivs 1 (I-16, I-18, I-20, I-21, I-24) and 14 (I-27, I-29).
21 March 1943:
Departs Truk.
27 March 1943:
Arrives at Yokosuka.
19 May 1943:
Departs Yokosuka.
25 May 1943:
Arrives at Kure
1 June 1943:
HIE MARU departs Kure with submarines I-8 and I-10. I-8 is on the first leg of a Yanagi ("Willow") blockade-runner mission bound for Lorient, France.
10 June 1943:
Arrives at Singapore.
12 June 1943:
Departs Penang for the Indian Ocean carrying the IJA's 122nd Regiment and 65th Brigade's engineer troops.
16 August 1943:
Captain Harada Bunichi (35) assumes command. 24 August 1943:
Departs Manila for Palau.
31 August 1943:
Arrives at Truk.
3 September 1943:
Departs Kwajalein.
19 September 1943:
Departs Wotje.
20 September 1943:
Lands troops and supplies at Maloelap.
21 September 1943:
Departs Maloelap.
22 September 1943:
Arrives at Wotje.
1 October 1943:
Rerated a transport assigned to the Yokosuka Naval District.
20 October 1943:
At 0600, HIE and AWATA MARUs depart Shanghai in a fast troop convoy carrying three Corps of troops as part of the 4th Reinforcement Movement to Rabaul. They are escorted by destroyers MAIKAZE and NOWAKI. HIE MARU is carrying about 2,100 troops of the Army's 17th Division. AWATA carries another 1,000 troops.
21 October 1943:
East China Sea. LtCdr David C. White's USS CERO (SS-225), LtCdr Edgar J. MacGregor's SHAD (SS-235) and LtCdr John A. Moore's GRAYBACK (SS-208) are patrolling W of Okinawa. The three submarines had formed up at Midway under SubRon 2's Captain (later Vice Admiral) Charles B. Momsen* as the first of COMSUBPAC's wolfpacks. They receive an "Ultra" signal based on code-breaking intelligence that alerts them that a convoy will pass through their patrol area.
At 1627, Moore's submerged GRAYBACK spots the masts of the convoy north of her position. GRAYBACK tracks the convoy, but loses it at 1800 in the darkness. Moore surfaces and acquires the convoy on his SJ radar.
22 October 1943:
LtCdr Moore makes a long "end-around" run and sets up ahead of the convoy. At 0347, he fives six torpedoes and sinks AWATA MARU. 1,087 men of the 17th Division and 223 navy crewmen are KIA. MAIKAZE and NOWAKI unsuccessfully counterattack. Later, the destroyers rescue rescue 76 troops and 88 crewmen from AWATA MARU. HIE MARU escapes and makes for Rabaul.
11 November 1943:
190 miles NNW of Kavieng, New Ireland. LtCdr Delbert F. Williamson's USS DRUM (SS-228) is on patrol between the Carolines and New Ireland to intercept expected Japanese reinforcements during the forthcoming invasion of Tarawa. Alerted by an Ultra message, Williamson sights a convoy, sets up and fires six Mark-14 steam torpedoes at HIE MARU at 01-00N, 149-20E. The first torpedo explodes prematurely. Transport KINAYAMASAN MARU reports three torpedo explosions astern. NOWAKI counterattacks unsuccessfully. The convoy suffers no damage in the attack.
Later that day, a USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 "Liberator" bombs the convoy and damages the HIE MARU.
12 November 1943:
The convoy and HIE MARU make port at Rabaul.
15 November 1943:
Departs Rabaul for Truk in fleet convoy 2152 consisting of HIE MARU, auxiliary submarine depot ship NAGOYA MARU and transport TAMASHIMA MARU escorted by subchasers Ch-29 and Ch-30.
17 November 1943:
385 miles SW of Truk. LtCdr Williamson's DRUM again sights and identifies HIE MARU steaming in the convoy. At 1245, in a submerged attack, Williamson fires four torpedoes at HIE MARU. Only one hits in hold No. 3. HEI MARU takes on a list to port. The escorts mount a heavy counter-attack that almost sinks DRUM. Depth charges knock paint off her bulkheads.
At 1730, HIE MARU sinks at 01-45N, 148-45E. The other ships in the convoy are unscathed.
Captain Harada is KIA. He is promoted Rear Admiral, posthumously.
5 January 1944:
Removed from the Navy List.

Authors' Note:
Thanks go to Cdr John D. Alden, USN-Ret.
- Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall.

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