KYUTANSEN!

(YUBARI MARU, prewar)

IJN YUBARI MARU:
Tabular Record of Movement


© 2016 Gilbert Casse, Berend van der Wal and Peter Cundall

18 October 1929:
Tama. Laid down by Mitsui Bussan Zosenbu K.K. shipyard for Kyoritsu Kisen K.K. as a 4,109-tons cargo ship.

1 April 1930:
Launched and named YUBARI MARU.

10 May 1930:
Completed and registered at Akashi.

20 May 1938:
Her owners and registered port are respectively changed to Hokkaido Tanko Kisen K.K. and to Tokyo.

15 August 1941:
Requisitioned by the IJN. Arrives at Kure.

5 September 1941:
Registered as an auxiliary collier attached to the Kure Naval District, (Otsu) category under instruction No. 1025. [1]

7 September 1941:
Departs Kure.

E September 1941 ~ January 1942:
Calls at Osaka ~ Hiro ~ Maizuru ~ Sasebo ~ Moji ~ Usa ~ Murozumi ~ Saitozaki ~ Chinkai, Chosen (now Jinhae, South Korea) ~ Dairen, Manchuria (now Dalian, northern China ~ Chinnampo, Chosen (now North Korea) ~ Kobe and Moji.

18 January 1942:
Arrives at Takao, Formosa (now Kaoshiung, Taiwan).

25 January 1942:
Departs Takao with KINSEN MARU.

1 February 1942:
Arrives at Davao, Mindanao, Philippines.

3 February 1942:
Departs Davao.

6 February 1942:
Arrives at Balikpapan, Borneo.

28 February 1942:
Departs Balikpapan escorted by auxiliary netlayer FUKUEI MARU No. 15 and auxiliary submarine chasers CHa-22 and TAKUNAN MARU No. 5.

1 March 1942:
Arrives at Macassar, Celebes (now Sulawesi). Departs there later that day.

5 March 1942:
Arrives at Bali. Attached to Southern Army Airforce supply units.

8 March 1942:
Departs Bali.

11 March 1942:
Arrives at Koepang, Timor.

27 March 1942:
During offloading in Koepang harbor sustains a Dutch airstrike. Sinks after receiving two direct hits in number one hold. One crewman is KIA. The crew of hospital ship ASAHI MARU helps rescueing survivors.

4 April 1942:
Removed from the Navy’s list under internal order No. 662.

Authors' Notes:
[1] There were two categories of Kyusuisen. (Ko) category with an IJN Captain as supervisor aboard and (Otsu) category without.

Thanks go to Gengoro S. Toda of Japan.

- Berend van der Wal, Gilbert Casse and Peter Cundall.

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