''Shunsen Maru'' (''Japanese:'' 春川丸) was a steel-hulled steamer that was converted into an auxiliary net layer by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

History

She was launched as ''Yoshi Maru'' (代志丸) in February 1920 (Taisho 9) at the Osaka shipyard of Namura Shipbuilding Works (名村造船鐵工所) for the benefit of Sato Shokai K.K. and completed later in the year. In November 1924, she was purchased by Chosen Yusen Co., Ltd. (朝鮮郵船株式會社) and renamed ''Shunsen Maru'' (春川丸) although she is also listed as ''Harukawa Maru''. She worked as a fishing vessel before being briefly requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy from until 10 May 1923 until 6 November 1923. Serving in the Yokosuka Guard District, Yokosuka Naval District, her first task was laying buoys to mark the route to Alexandrovsk which had been seized from the Russians during the Japanese intervention in Siberia and thereafter mostly worked as a replenishment vessel for steam vessels (coal, water, food). She returned to the private sector until the advent of World War II. Her call sign was changed to JEKG sometime in 1934. On 4 December 1941, she was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy, commissioned on 20 December 1941 into the Sasebo Guard Force,

Sasebo Naval District was the third of five main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the western and southern coastline of Kyūshū, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and Korea, as well as patrols in the East China Sea and t ...

, and then sent to the shipyard of Tochigi Shoji K.K. for conversion into an auxiliary net layer. On 31 December 1941, she was reassigned to the Chinkai Guard District. On 18 November 1942, she was reassigned to the Southern Expeditionary Fleet. On 5 January 1945, the US submarine ''Cavalla'' torpedoed and sank ''Shunsen Maru'' and her fellow auxiliary net layer '' Kanko Maru'' in the

Java Sea The Java Sea ( id, Laut Jawa, jv, Segara Jawa) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its nort ...

at coordinates . She was struck from the Naval List on 10 April 1945.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shunsen Maru 1920 ships Auxiliary ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy Ships sunk by American submarines Net laying ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy