The ''Tenyo Maru'' was a 6,843-gross register ton passenger cargo ship built by Mitsubishi,

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

for Toyo Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha in 1935. She was chartered to Mitsui and plied the New York route until she was requisitioned on 9 September 1941 by the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and converted at the Harima shipyard to a minelayer, which was completed on 31 October 1941. Assigned to the Mine Division 19, of the Fourth Fleet, she landed troops at Makin Island. As part of the Rabaul invasion fleet, she carried air base construction materials.

Fate

On 10 March 1942, during the

invasion of Lae-Salamaua An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

, ''Tenyo Maru'' suffers two direct bomb hits from SBD's from the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

aircraft carriers and and breaks in two and sinks off Lae, New Guinea. ''Tenyo Maru'' was removed from the Navy List on 1 April 1942. The bow of the ship was still visible above the water, at the end of the former

Lae Airport Lae Airport is a public use airport at Lae on Lae Atoll, Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and mi ...

in the 1970s.

Notes

External links

Chronological List of Japanese Merchant Vessel Losses
*http://combinedfleet.com/Tenyo_t.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Tenyo Maru (1935) 1935 ships Minelayers of the Imperial Japanese Navy Ships sunk by US aircraft Shipwrecks of Papua New Guinea Maritime incidents in March 1942