YUSOSEN!
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(Oiler by Takeshi Yuki scanned from "Color Paintings of
Japanese Warships")
IJN MUROTSU MARU:
Tabular Record of Movement
© 2008 Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall.
20 September 1943:
Matsunoura. Laid down at Harima Zosensho K. K.’s shipyard
as an 891-ton Standard Type 2TE coastal motor tanker. [1]
9 October 1943:
Launched and named MUROTSU MARU.
29 October 1943:
Completed and requisitioned by the IJN. Registered
as a specially installed transport (oil supply) in the Kure Naval District. That
same day, begins conversion to a fleet oiler.
4 February 1944:
Completes conversion.
5 February 1944:
Departs Kure.
6 February 1944:
Arrives at Tokuyama Naval Fuel Depot.
8 February 1944:
Departs Tokuyama and transports fuel oil to Kobe,
Owase, Yokkaichi, Kushimoto and Kure, then returns to Tokuyama.
29 May 1944:
Departs Shimotsu.
31 May 1944:
Departs Motoyama.
2 June 1944:
Arrives at Maizuru.
9 June 1944:
Departs Maizuru and then travels between Niigata,
Ominato, Kataoka, Otaru and Tokuyama.
25 June 1944:
Arrives at Kure.
25 August 1944:
Kure. Undergoes system repairs.
6 November 1944:
System repairs are completed. Departs Kure for
Tokuyama, then transports fuel oil to Kure, Kobe and Yokkaichi.
30 November 1944:
Arrives at Kobe.
15 August 1945: Cessation of Hostilities:
Assigned as a special
transport to the Maizuru demobilization bureau.
20 November 1945:
Maizuru Navay Yard. Begins repairs.
20 January 1946:
Repairs terminated. Never serves as a repatriation
vessel.
21 August 1946:
Removed from the Navy List. Sold to an unknown
private firm, probably a ship yard, for reconstruction.
1948:
The reconstruction is completed. [2]
1950 or earlier:
Sold to Tokyo Yusen, K. K., Tokyo. Used as a coastal
tanker along the Japanese coast.
1960:
Sold to Nisshin Tanker K. K., Tokyo and renamed NAGATO MARU
No.7.
22 November 1962:
Begins scrapping at Tsuneishi.
Authors’ Notes:
[1] The prototype of the 2TE class, the most unreliable and poorly constructed of the Japanese War Program ships. Three types of engine were used on the design, including an older hot bulb diesel type. With poor construction, the ships were plagued with frequent engine breakdowns and other problems. In contrast to the somewhat better 2E cargo design used mainly in Japanese waters, many 2TE tankers were called on to steam to the Philippines, Borneo and Singapore areas.
Ironically, the small size and very poor quality of the design actually meant a much higher survival rate than other wartime designs sent south as the ships spent much of their time laid up in ports awaiting, or undergoing,
repairs. Postwar, the poor condition of the ships meant they were rebuilt, often from the mid-hull up, and as effectively new units, often enjoyed long post-war lives, longer than any other design. The last 2TE believed to be still afloat, cargo ship KAH POH (ex-NANSHIN MARU No. 25), was listed in Lloyds Register until
at least 2002.
[2] MUROTSU MARU remains a tanker, somewhat unusual, as most such ships
are rebuilt as cargo ships.
- Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall.
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