Building
''Hōkoku Maru'' was designed as a cargo liner for Shosen Line's scheduled services to South America. She was Keel-laying, laid down at the Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Tama shipyard in Okayama Prefecture on 18 August 1938. She was launched on 5 July 1939 and completed on 22 June 1940.Hackett & Kingsepp Designed as a luxury ocean liner, she had a luxury suite of rooms called the Nara Suite after Nara, Nara, the city of that name. However, the Japanese admiralty influenced the design of the ''Hōkoku Maru''-class, to make them suitable for use as Troopship, troop ships. The Japanese government provided large subsidies for such dual-purpose designs from 1936 onwards. ''Hōkoku Maru''s registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . Her tonnages were and . She had two Propeller, screws, each powered by a 12-cylinder, single-acting, two-stroke diesel engine. Between them her two engines were rated at 2,490 Horsepower#Nominal horsepower, NHP,''Lloyd's Register of Shipping'', 1941, HOH–HOK and they gave her a speed of .Civilian career
''Hōkoku Maru'' was Ship registration, registered in Port of Osaka, Osaka. Her Maritime call sign, call sign was JCSN. Instead of running between Japan and South America, ''Hōkoku Maru'' mostly operated between Port of Kobe, Kobe in Japan and Port of Dalian, Dairen in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, with some calls at Moji-ku, Kitakyūshū, Moji, Port of Yokohama, Yokohama and Port of Nagoya, Nagoya. Her only recorded voyage to South America started from Moji on 27 July 1940. She then resumed her route between Dairen and Kobe.Conversion
On 29 August 1941 the Japanese Navy requisitioned ''Hōkoku Maru''. The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard at Kobe armed her with four 15 cm/50 41st Year Type guns, two QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns, two 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine gun, Type 93 13.2-mm machine guns and two twin-mount torpedo tubes. In October 1941 she was fitted with 900mm and 1,100mm searchlights and a boom for handling a Kawanishi E7K floatplane, with a second aircraft as a spare. Despite her intended role as a commerce raider, little attempt was made to disguise ''Hōkoku Maru'' as a merchant ship. Her guns were fitted with gun-shields and were left in open sight, and she was painted in two-tone naval camouflage.Naval career
''Hōkoku Maru'' was Ship commissioning, commissioned into the Japanese Navy on 20 September 1941 under the command of Captain (naval), Captain Aihara Aritaka. On 15 November 1941 ''Hōkoku Maru'' and her sister ship , sailed for Jaluit in preparation for the opening of hostilities against the United States. On 7 December 1941 the two ships were in the Tuamotu Archipelago at the start of a two-month raiding voyage that sank two Allied merchant ships: ''St Vincent'' off Pitcairn Island and near the Cook Islands, before returning to Japan in February 1942. In Japan, ''Hōkoku Maru'' was refitted, and was re-armed with 8 x 140mm (5.5 inch) guns. She was also outfitted as a submarine tender to support operations by the IJN's 8th Submarine Squadron off East Africa. In May 1942, ''Hōkoku Maru'', again with ''Aikoku Maru'', sailed for Singapore, thence to the Indian Ocean. There they captured the Netherlands, Dutch Tanker (ship), tanker ''Genota'' south of Antsiranana, Diego-Suarez, French Madagascar, Madagascar, and sank the United Kingdom, British cargo ship ''Elysia'' south of the Mozambique Channel, before re-arming the submarines of the 8th Submarine Squadron off the east coast of Africa. In July 1942 the two raiders captured the New Zealand cargo ship ''Hauraki'', which they sent to Singapore under a prize crew. Returning to Singapore, ''Hōkoku Maru'' was re-equipped with two Aichi E13A (Allied reporting name "Jake") floatplanes, and an experimental two-tone dazzle camouflage scheme. In November 1942 ''Hōkoku Maru'', again in company with ''Aikoku Maru'', left Singapore for the Indian Ocean, on what would be her last raiding voyage.Loss
On 7 November 1942, ''Hōkoku Maru'' and ''Aikoku Maru'' passed through the Sunda Strait into the Indian Ocean. Four days later, on 11 November 1942, they encountered the Dutch armed tanker , escorted by the Royal Indian Navy corvette off the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. As ''Hōkoku Maru'' engaged, ''Bengal'' and ''Ondina'' returned fire, and a Shell (projectile), shell, probably from ''Ondina's'' single gun, hit ''Hōkoku Maru's'' Port and starboard, starboard torpedo mount, causing an explosion and uncontrollable fire which spread to the aft Magazine (artillery), magazine. After a series of explosions, ''Hōkoku Maru'' sank just two hours after the action commenced. ''Aikoku Maru'' rescued 278 of her crew. Both ''Ondina'' and ''Bengal'' escaped.KindellReferences
Bibliography
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*Hackett R, Kingsepp S