YUSOSEN!
(A Type 1TM Standard Tanker underway)
IJN JAMBI MARU:Tabular Record of Movement
© 2008-2011 Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall.
7 January 1943:
Nagasaki. Laid down at Mitsubishi Shipbuilding as a 5, 244-ton Type 1TM Wartime Standard Merchant Tanker for Mitsubishi Kisen K. K., Tokyo.
3 June 1943:
Launched and named JAMBI MARU. [1][2]
13 July 1943:
Completed.
13 August 1943:
At 1240, JAMBI MARU departs Mako (Bako), Pescadores for Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Indochina in convoy No. 315 consisting of SUEZ, TOSAN, BISAN, SUNGSHAN (SUZAN), BELGIUM, CHINKO, NIKKO, RISSHUN, CHILE, SEISHIN, KOKKO and WALES MARUs escorted by patrol boat PB-36.
15 August 1943:
At 0500, KOKKO and WALES MARUs are detached for Kirun (Keelung) and Hong Kong respectively.
21 August 1943:
At 1005, arrives at Cap St. Jacques, then proceeds up river to Saigon .
27 September 1943:
At 2200, departs Palembang.
1 October 1943:
At 0800, arrives at Balikpapan.
13 October 1943:
At 2300, departs Palembang.
17 October 1943:
Arrives at Surabaya.
21 October 1943:
Departs Surabaya.
25 October 1943:
Arrives at Singapore.
29 October 1943:
Departs Singapore.
13 November 1943:
At 1430, departs Palembang.
17 November 1943:
At 1700, arrives at Balikpapan.
6 January 1944:
Departs Surabaya for Balikpapan with auxiliary subchaser CHa-41 as escort.
21 January 1944:
At 0945, JAMBI MARU departs Balikpapan in convoy O-103 consisting of fleet oilers IRO and SATA escorted by patrol boat PB-36 and subchasers CH-37 and CH-41.
22 January 1944:
Tarakan, Borneo. JAMBI MARU escorted by auxiliary subchasers CHa-41 and CHa-46 join convoy No. 2517 consisting of IJA Landing ship carrier SHINSHU MARU and KYOEI MARUs escorted by subchaser CH-6.
23 January 1944:
JAMBI MARU is detached from the convoy and steams to Tarakan.
26 January 1944:
At 1545, departs Tarakan.
28 January 1944:
At 1630, arrives at Balikpapan, Borneo.
31 January 1944:
At 0700, departs Surbaya for Kota Baru and Surabaya.
18 February 1944:
At 1200, JAMBI MARU and minesweeper W-11 arrive at Balikpapan.
13 April 1944:
At 0900, JAMBI MARU departs Balikpapan for Zamboanga, Mindanao, Philippines in a convoy consisting of BUGEN MARU escorted by patrol boat PB-102 (ex-USS STEWART, DD-224) and auxiliary minesweeper Wa-106.
15 April 1944:
At 0835, arrives at Tolitoli, NW Celebes (Sulawasei).
16 April 1944:
At 0252, departs Tolitoli. Arrives at Tarakan, Borneo that same day.
17 April 1944:
At 0657, departs Tarakan.
19 April 1944:
Arrives at Zamboanga.
21 April 1944:
JAMBI and BUGEN MARUs join convoy M-27 bound for Manila consisting of SHOGEN, TETSUYO and SHINYU MARUs and NIKKO MARU No. 1 and Army LST BANRYU (later SS-2) escorted by patrol boats PB-103 and PB-105 and auxiliary subchasers YATSUSHIRO MARU and KYO MARU No. 2.
22 April 1944:
Arrives at Cebu and departs the same day.
24 April 1944:
Convoy M-27 arrives at Manila.
1 June 1944:
JAMBI MARU departs Surabaya, Java with tanker SEIAN MARU escorted by fleet stores ship ARASAKI. Two hours after departure, JAMBI MARU strikes a mine that explodes under hold No. 4 and returns to Surabaya.
3 June 1944:
At 0900, JAMBI MARU departs Surabaya for Balikpapan, Borneo in a convoy consisting of KITA and ENOSHIMA MARUs escorted by minesweeper W-12.
16 July 1944:
At 0630, departs Balikpapan for Surabaya without an escort.
18 July 1944:
Java Sea, 23 miles N of Bawean Island. From 0626 to 0715, LtCdr William T. Kinsella’s USS RAY (SS-271) makes six separate runs on JAMBI MARU. Kinsella fires 22 torpedoes and claims eight hits. During the action, JAMBI MARU fires at RAY with her deck gun. JAMBI MARU catches fire and, her hull holed by torpedoes, floods and finally sinks in three pieces at 05-21S, 112-30E. [3]
Authors’ Notes:
[1] Some sources confuse Japanese tanker JAMBI MARU with Dutch freighter DJAMBI, but this ship was sunk in the Atlantic in 1943 in a collision with SS SILVERBEECH in convoy OS-44.
[2] JAMBI MARU was also known as JANBI MARU.
[3] Veteran Java Sea diver and photojournalist/diver Kevin Denlay of Australia says the wreck of JAMBI MARU rests in three pieces. Her bow is severed/blown off from the fairly large upright midsection, while the stern itself is also severed and rests a little further away.
- Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall
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