''Kita Maru'' (''Japanese'': 喜多丸) was a Dutch-built, steel-hulled

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

that was seized by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II and converted into an auxiliary transport.

History

She was launched in 1918 at the '' Gusto Shipyard'' in

Schiedam Schiedam () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the village ...

for the benefit of the Gouvernementsmarine and named ''Gemma''. She was armed with a single 75 mm gun. She was scuttled by Dutch forces at

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

on 2 March 1942 after the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies. On 27 October 1942, she was refloated and repaired by the No. 102 Naval Construction and Repair Department at

, Java. On 28 January 1943, her repairs were completed and on 1 August 1943, she was designated as a special transport ship, and assigned to the

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 ...

. On 1 March 1944, she arrived at

as part of the Southern Expeditionary Fleet. She spent most of the war ferrying supplies and men and assisting disabled ships between ports in and around Indonesia ( Kota Bharu,

, Balikpapan, and Samarinda). On 24 September 1944, she assisted the gunboat ''

Nankai Nankai () is a family of schools in China founded by Yan Xiu (严范孙) (1860–1920) and Zhang Boling (张伯苓) (1876–1951). The schools include: * Nankai High School in Tianjin (天津南开中学) (1904). * Nankai University in Tianj ...

'' and the '' Hokkai Maru'', disabled by enemy mines laid by the submarine USS ''Bowfin'' 15 miles west of Sebuku Island at . She survived the war and was struck from the Navy List on August 15, 1945. Her last known port-of-call was

Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Med ...

References

Steamships 1918 ships Ships built by Gusto Shipyard Auxiliary ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy Surabaya {{Japan-mil-ship-stub