Sakito Maru

''Sakito Maru'' ( ja, 崎戸丸) was a 7,126-ton Japanese troop transport that operated during World War II. She was sunk on 1 March 1944 with great loss of life.

Construction

''Sakito Maru'' was built in 1939 by the Mitsubishi Zosen Kaisha in Nagasaki for the Nippon Yusen shipping company. She was the lead ship of seven ships of the ''Sakito Maru''-class of high speed transports: ''Sakito Maru'' (崎戸丸), ''Sanuki Maru'' (讃岐丸), Sado Maru'' (佐渡丸), ''Sagami Maru'' (相模丸), '' Sagara Maru'' (相良丸), ''Sasako Maru'' (笹子丸), and ''Sakura Maru'' (佐倉丸).

Early service

On the foggy morning of 4 September 1940, ''Sakito Maru'' collided with the 1,514- gross register ton fishing barge ''Olympic II'', which was anchored on the Horseshoe Kelp fishing bank at the entrance of Los Angeles Harbor off Los Angeles, California. ''Olympic II'' sank in of water with the loss of seven or eight lives.

On 24 September 1941, ''Sakito Maru'' took the Japanese cargo ship ''Arima Maru'' — which had been refloated after running aground on the coast of Peru south of the harbor at Mollendo on 25 May 1941 — under tow to Callao, Peru. After temporary repairs to ''Arima Maru'' at Callao, ''Sakito Maru'' departed Callao with ''Arima Maru'' under tow on 9 October 1941 and proceeded to Yokohama, Japan. On 20 November 1941, the two vessels arrived at Yokohama, where ''Arima Maru'' underwent permanent repairs.

Battle of the Komandorski Islands

After the beginning of World War II, ''Sakito Maru'' was converted into a troop transport.Morison, p. 24. She and the merchant cruiser ''Asaka Maru'' were operating as transports, carrying reinforcements to the Japanese garrison of Attu in the Aleutian Islands during the Aleutian Islands campaign, when their convoy encountered the warships of United States Navy Task Group 16.6 in the North Pacific Ocean near the Komandorski Islands on 27 March 1943. ''Sakito Maru'' and ''Asaka Maru'' steamed away and avoided combat in the ensuing Battle of the Komandorski Islands. Two U.S. Navy PBY Catalina flying boats sighted the two transports during the afternoon,Morison, p. 34. but land-based United States Army Air Forces airstrikes launched against them during the afternoon failed to find them. They returned safely to Paramushiro in the Kuril Islands, but failed to deliver the reinforcements to Attu.

Loss

On 29 February 1944, ''Sakito Maru'' was carrying the Imperial Japanese Army′s 18th Infantry Regiment as part of Convoy Matsu-01, which was transporting the 29th Division of the Kwantung Army from Manchukuo to Guam. Matsu No. 1 consisted of four large transports escorted by three ''Yūgumo''-class destroyers of Destroyer Division 31, namely , , and . The American submarine attacked the convoy about east of Formosa. The submarine badly damaged the large passenger-cargo ship ''Aki Maru''. Two torpedoes also hit ''Sakito Maru'' around 17:56 and she caught fire.

''Asashimo'' detected ''Trout'' and dropped 19 depth charges. Oil and debris came to the surface and the destroyer dropped a final depth charge on that spot, sinking the American submarine with the loss of all hands at the position .

At 04:00 on 1 March 1944, the burning ''Sakito Maru'' sank. Of the 3,500 men on board, 2,358 soldiers, 65 ship's gunners, and 52 crewmen died. Also lost were several light tanks and most of the regiment's equipment.

See also

* List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines
* List of battles and other violent events by death toll

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Morison, Samuel Eliot. ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VII: Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942–April 1944''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984.

{{March 1944 shipwrecks

Ships of the NYK Line
World War II merchant ships of Japan
Ships of the Aleutian Islands campaign
Ships sunk by American submarines
Maritime incidents in September 1940
Maritime incidents in March 1944
Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Troop ships of Japan
World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean
1938 ships