YUSOSEN!
IJN SHIOYA: Tabular Record of Movement
© 2005-2009 Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall.
Revision 2
1 April 1942:
Nagasaki. Laid down at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' shipyard as a 7, 951-ton aviation gasoline tanker.
8 March 1943:
Launched and named SHIOYA.
1 November 1943:
Captain-Ret (later Rear Admiral)(40) Ikeuchi Masamichi is posted as Chief Equipping Officer.
9 November 1943:
Nagasaki. Completed and registered (commissioned) in the IJN as a Transport in the Sasebo Naval District. Attached directly to the Combined Fleet. Captain Ikeuchi is the Commanding Officer.
31 December 1943:
At 0600, convoy HI-29 departs Moji consisting of tankers KUROSHIO and (ex cargo) GOYO MARUs, cargo passenger ships KACHIDOKI (ex-PRESIDENT HARRISON) and ASOSAN MARUs escorted by kaibokan SADO. That same day, SHIOYA and sister fleet oiler ASHIZURI depart Sasebo and join the convoy.
4 January 1944:
At 1600, convoy HI-29 arrives at Takao. SHIOYA and ASHIZURI are detached.
6 January 1944:
At 1315, SHIOYA, fleet oiler ASHIZURI and tanker OKIKAWA MARU depart Takao in the Rinji (special) M convoy escorted by kaibokan SADO and patrol boat PB-36 This convoy accompanies convoy HI-29 to Manila.
9 January 1944:
At 1530, convoy HI-29 arrives at Manila. The Rinji M convoy is detached.
10 January 1944:
At 1840, SHIOYA, ASHIZURI and OKIKAWA MARU depart Manila escorted by patrol boat PB-36.
13 January 1944:
At 1840, arrives at Tarakan, Borneo.
14 January 1944:
At 0340, departs Tarakan.
15 January 1944:
At 1450, arrives at Balikpapan.
23 January 1944:
Departs Balikpapan, Borneo.
27 January 1944:
Departs Zamboanga for Davao.
28 January 1944:
Arrives at Davao, Philippines.
3 February 1944:
Captain Nobero Sato is appointed CO.
13 February 1944:
Arrives at Balikpapan.
15 February 1944:
Departs Balikpapan.
28 February 1944:
Arrives at Sasebo. Undergoes repairs and servicing.
19 March 1944:
Departs Sasebo. Later, transports aviation gasoline between Balikpapan and Davao.
6 May 1944:
Assigned to Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Takasu Shiro's Southwest Area Fleet.
24 May 1944:
At 0920, USN codebreakers intercept and decrypt a message from the CO of SHIOYA that reads: “From one hour commencing at 0713 we attacked an enemy submarine with the cooperation of planes in position 01-45N, 121-04E.”
[1]
3 June 1944:
Arrives at Balikpapan in a convoy with tanker SEIAN MARU and fleet storeship ARASAKI escorted by torpedo boat HAYABUSA.
7 June 1944:
Attached to Vice Admiral (Admiral, posthumously) Nagumo Chuichi's Central Pacific Area Fleet. Departs Balikpapan.
8 June 1944:
W of Menado, Celebes. At about 1600, lookouts aboard LtCdr Willard R. Laughon's surfaced USS RASHER (SS-269) spot smoke on the horizon at 30,000 yards. Later, the targets are misidentified as old armored cruiser ASAMA (SHIOYA) and an AMATSUKAZE (KAGERO)-class destroyer patrolling two miles ahead of SHIOYA.
Laughon makes a submerged attack from starboard and fires six torpedoes. Five hit SHIOYA. Her magazine explodes and the aft part of the ship is obscured by flames up to the stacks. SHIOYA takes on a list to starboard. Laughon takes RASHER to 300 feet and evades eight depth charges. He and his crew hear breaking up noises. SHIOYA sinks at 03-04N, 124-03E. [2]
10 August 1944:
Removed from the Navy List.
Authors' Notes:
[1] CNO analysts say SHIOYA was in company of minesweeper W-30.
[2] Later, CNO analysts discussed the 8 June 44 attack by RASHER:
“SHIOYA was scheduled to be in position 03-08N, 124-00E at 1930, 8 June under the escort of subchaser CH-5. On 8 June at 2018, CH-5 originated a dispatch to Balikpapan and Davao, infoing CINC Combined Fleet and 2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleets. At 082030, CH-5 was addressed in care of Davao Special Base Force. This untranslated traffic probably dealt with the attack on SHIOYA. That SHIOYA was not sunk on 7 June is proved by the fact that at 081248 she was the concealed originator of a dispatch to various fleet commands.”
Thanks go to John Whitman of the USA for info on CNO intercepts of Japanese messages.
- Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall.
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