''Takasago Maru'' was a passenger-cargo liner of

OSK Line Mitsui O.S.K. Lines ( ja, 株式会社商船三井, Kabushiki-gaisha Shōsen Mitsui; abbreviated MOL) is a Japanese transport Company (law), company headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the largest shipping companies in ...

which later transferred to 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 ...

as a hospital ship.

Construction and career

She was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 9 June 1936 and launched on 1 December 1936 by

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...

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 ...

. She was commissioned on 28 April 1937 into the Mitsui OSK Line. Throughout 1937 to 1941, she made trips to

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

Keelung Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, along with its neighbors, New Taipe ...

and Moji. On 12 November 1941, she was acquired by the

and converted to a hospital ship by

Kure Naval Arsenal was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. History The Kure Naval District was established at Kure, Hiroshima in 1889, as the second of the naval districts responsible for the defense of the J ...

on 1 December. On 8 April 1942, she was mistakenly lightly damaged by and again on 26 April by in the

Manipa Strait Manipa Island is an island in West Seram Regency, Maluku Province, Indonesia. It is located 8 km off the western coast of Kelang at the western end of Seram Island and 25 km off the western coast of Buru. Including adjacent small isla ...

despite her clear designation as a hospital ship. On 14 June 1941, she carried 500 patients while being escorted by the

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

. On 15 June,

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Matome Ugaki was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, remembered for his extensive and revealing war diary, role at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and kamikaze suicide hours after the announced surrender of Japan at the end of the war. ...

departed the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

to pay a visit aboard and ''Takasago Maru''. She was attacked by aircraft but no damage was sustained from it while anchored off Shortland on 1 November of the same year. ''Takasago Maru'' was escorted by the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

as they arrived at Truk on 5 September 1943. On 18 December, she transferred medical supplies to the cruiser at Harujima. She departed

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

on 28 February 1944 for

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

. The supply ship replenish with ''Takasago Maru'' on 17 April. encountered ''Takasago Maru'' on 5 February 1945 and was let go as she was clearly marked as a hospital ship. On 19 March, she was anchored near the battleships and during the attack on Kure and escaped the harbor undamaged. conducted an onboard search for violations and contrabands but found her to be clear and let her continue to

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

on 2 July. Same thing happened again five days later on 7 July, when conducted a search. While she was in Maizuru on 25 July, planes from the aircraft carrier attacked the harbor but with no hits on ''Takasago Maru''. On 1 December, she was assigned to the Allied Repatriation Service at Kure. Between 1947 and 1956, she made trips to evacuate Japanese

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

and

Nakhodka Nakhodka ( rus, Нахо́дка, p=nɐˈxotkə) is a port city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located on the Trudny Peninsula jutting into the Nakhodka Bay of the Sea of Japan, about east of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai. Po ...

. On 23 March 1956, she was sold to Namura Shipbuilding, K. K.,

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

for scrapping.

Gallery

File:Painting of the ferry ship Takasago Maru.jpg, Painting of ''Takasago Maru''. File:1937 Takasago Maru.jpg, A 1937 poster of ''Takasago Maru''. File:TakasagoMaru-1945.jpg, ''Takasago Maru'' as a hospital ship in 1945.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Takasago Maru Steamships Ocean liners Hospital ships of Japan World War II merchant ships of Japan 1936 ships