RIKUGUN YUSOSEN

(TAKAO MARU, prewar)

TAKAO MARU:
Tabular Record of Movement

© 2018 Bob Hackett

19 July 1926:
Uraga. Laid down by Uraga Dock Company as Yard No. 317, a 4,282-ton passenger/cargo ship for Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK Line) of Osaka as a high speed transport for perishable fruits, especially bananas, and has an advanced mechanical ventilation system to cool her cargo hold.

2 April 1927:
Launched and named TAKAO MARU. [1]

1927:
Completed. She can accommodate six first-class and 64 third-class passengers.

1 February 1931:
Off Kannonzaki Lighthouse, Tokyo Bay. ARABIA MARU (9,480-tons) collides with TAKAO MARU and takes on water in the engine room. ARABIA MARU is beached for safety on muddy sand off Onuki Town, Chiba Prefecture.

7 October 1941:
Requisitioned by the Imperial Army (IJA). Converted to a troop transport and alloted Army No. 638.

7 December 1941: Operation "M" - The Attack on the Southern Philippines:
At 1630, Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Nishimura Shoji’s (39) Vigan Invasion Force in Vice Admiral Takahashi Ibo's (36) (former CO of KIRISHIMA) Third Fleet, Philippines Seizure Force, consisting of six transports escorted by minesweeper W-10, departs Mako, Pescadores carrying 2,000 men of the Kanno Detachment of the 48th Infantry Division.

10 December 1941:
Northern Luzon, Philippines. At 0200, the transports land troops at Pandan, near Vigan, but are bombed and strafed by five Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" heavy bombers and escorting Seversky P-35A "Guardsman" and Curtiss P-40B "Kittyhawk" fighters of the U. S. Army's Far East Air Force.

During the action, Captain Samuel H. Marrett, CO of the 34th Fighter Squadron, makes repeated strafing passes on W-10 with his P-35 until W-10 blows up. The force of the explosion tears a wing off Marret's P-35 and he crashes into the sea. W-10 sinks at 17-32N, 120-22E.

Transports OIGAWA MARU and TAKAO MARU are so damaged they have to be beached. TAKAO MARU is at 17-29N, 120-26E. Light cruiser NAKA and destroyer MURASAME are slightly damaged by strafing.

5 March 1942:
Filipino guerrillas attack and destroy grounded TAKAO MARU.

30 September 1942:
Official date. Probably the date when TAKAO MARU is declared a comprehensive total loss.

Author's Note:
[1] Also known as KAOHSIUNG MARU.

Thanks go to Erich Muehlthaler of Germany.

-Bob Hackett

Back to IJA Transports