ZATSUYOSEN!
(Shofuku Maru No. 2 sunk in Sorong Harbor, New Guinea –
Wartime Standard 1E Type identical to Peacetime Standard (1E) Type – Cundall
collection)
IJN NISSEI MARU:
Tabular Record of Movement
© 2014 Gilbert Casse, Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall
E 1941:
Osaka. Laid down by Amagasaki Dock K.K. shipyard for Nippo Shokai
K.K. as a 833-tons peacetime Standard 1E Type cargo ship.
October 1941:
Launched and named NISSEI MARU.
16 March 1942:
Completed and registered in Tokyo.
9 June 1942:
Requisitioned by the IJN.
11 June 1942:
Departs Kure.
E 13 ~ 28 June 1942:
Calls at Chinnampo, Chosen (now North Korea) ~
Kure and Tsukumi, Oita Prefecture, Kyushu.
15 June 1942:
Registered in the IJN as an auxiliary transport (Otsu)
category attached to the Kure Naval District with Kure as home port under Navy’s
instruction No. 1058. [2]
30 June 1942:
Arrives at Yokohama.
2 July 1942:
Departs Yokohama and arrives at Yokosuka later that day.
E 3 ~ 20 July 1942:
Calls at Moji and Mako, Pescadores.
21 July 1942:
Arrives at Takao, Formosa (now Kaohsiung, Taiwan).
23 July 1942:
Departs Takao.
E 25 July ~ 3 November 1942:
Calls at Manila, Luzon ~ Macassar,
Celebes ~ Surabaya, Java and Christmas Island.
6 November 1942:
Arrives at Batavia (now Jakarta), Java.
14 November 1942:
Departs Batavia for Christmas Island with a cargo
of military stores and canteen rations.
17 November 1942:
Arrives at Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island and
tethers to pier to load phosphate. At 1117, LtCdr (later Rear Admiral-Ret) Hiram
H. Cassedy’s (USNA ’31) USS SEARAVEN (SS-196) attacks and hits NISSEI MARU. She
rapidly sinks at 10-30N, 105-35E with the loss of one crewman. The sinking marks
the end of Japanese attempts to export phosphate from the island.
10 June 1943:
Removed from the Navy’s list under instruction No.
1162.
Authors' Notes :
[1] Not to be confused with IJA transport No. 323 (2,878
GRT ’00), civilian cargo ship (C-AK) (1,491 GRT, ’89) and civilian cargo ship
(C-AK) (878 GRT, ’44).
[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. .
Gilbert Casse, Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall
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