© 2009 Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall
20 October 1944:
Tokyo. Laid down at Uraga Dock Company’s shipyard.
31 December 1944:
Launched and named KOZU .
10 January 1945:
LtCdr Kido Yoshihiko is posted Chief Equipping
Officer.
7 February 1945:
Completed and registered in the IJN. LtCdr Kido is
the Commanding Officer.
15 August 1945:
Japan accepts the Allies “Potsdam Declaration” (of
unconditional surrender) and hostilities cease.
30 November 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.
1 December 1945:
Assigned to the Allied Occupation Forces as a
minesweeper. [1]
28 August 1947:
Nakhodka Bay, Siberia, Maritime Province. KOZU is
ceded to the Soviet Navy as a war reparation.
Authors' Note:
[1] In 1945, the U. S. Army Air Force launched a five-phased
campaign known as “Operation Starvation” to mine Japan’s home waters. The USAAF
used 80 to 100 B-29 “Super Fortress” heavy bombers of the 21st Bomber Command
based at Tinian in the Marianas. The B-29s could carry seven 2,000 lb. or twelve
1,000 lb. mines.
Beginning on 27 March 1945 and continuing until 5 August 1945, the B-29s
flew 1,529 nighttime radar sorties and laid 4,900 magnetic, 3,500 acoustic,
2,900 pressure and 700 low-frequency mines for a total of more than 12,000 mines
laid in Japanese waters. These mines sank 294 ships, damaged 137 beyond repair
and damaged another 239 that could be repaired. The total was 1, 250,000 tons
sunk or damaged or about 75 percent of Japanese shipping available in March
1945. Only 15 B-29s were lost during the mining campaign.
Postwar, removal of these mines posed a major challenge for the Allied
Occupation Forces. They pressed 269 Japanese ships of various types into mine
sweeping service to augment their own efforts.
Thanks go to Matthew Jones for help in identifying COs.
-Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall
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