RIKUGUN YUSOSEN
(WW1 British Type C Standard Cargo Ship)
TAKAO MARU:
Tabular Record of Movement
© 2018 Bob Hackett
1919:
Castletown Yard, Southwick, Sunderland, England. Laid down by John Priestman and Co., Ltd.
as Yard No. 284, a 3, 204-ton British WW1 Standard C type wartime standard ship for The Shipping Controller, London.
11 November 1919:
Launched and named MURISTAN.
1920:
Before completion, sold to F. C. Strick & Co. Ltd., (Strick Line Ltd.), Swansea. Remodeled as a freight passenger ship.
January 1920:
Completed.
1922:
Sold to Turkistan Steamship Co. Ltd. Managed by Swansea.
28 February 1926:
Sold to Kawasaki Kisen K.K., Kobe. Renamed TAKAO MARU. [1]
E 1943:
Requisitioned by the Imperial Army (IJA) as a troop transport/cargo ship. Allotted Army No. 80.
E May 1943:
TAKAO MARU departs Hakodate, Hokkaido for Toyko in a convoy also consisting of oiler JIMMU MARU carrying a cargo of 2,317-tons of iron and steel, starch and coke. TAKAO MARU carries a cargo of lumber.
9 May 1943:
Off Ofunato, NE coast of Honshu. About 0355, Cdr (later KIA) Dudley W. Morton's (USNA '30) USS WAHOO (SS-238) fires three torpedoes and gets a hit in JIMMU MARU's portside forward. At 0502, her captain runs her ashore near Hirota Village. Her crew abandons ship at 38-52N, 141-43E. JIMMU MARU is a comprehensive total loss.
Kone Zaki. Cdr Morton fires three torpedoes and gets a hit in TAKAO MARU's portside No. 1 and No. 2 holds that sets her afire. Her back broken, 13 minutes later, she sinks by the stern at 38-57N, 141-49E. Two crewmen are KIA.
Author's Note:
[1] Also known as KAOHSIUNG MARU.
Thanks go to Erich Muehlthaler of Germany.
-Bob Hackett
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[1] Also known as Kaohsiung Maru