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Gokoku Maru
was an armed merchant cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II, the last ship of the ''Hōkoku Maru'' class ocean liners. The ship entered service in 1942 and was employed mainly as a troop transport. She came under attack several times during her service career, and was sunk in a submarine attack in November 1944. Design ''Gokoku Maru'' was laid down at the Tama shipyard in Okayama Prefecture prior to the outbreak of World War II. She was designed as a cargo liner for the Osaka Shosen Lines's regularly scheduled services between Japan and Africa. She was launched in April 1942 and completed in September of that year. During the building process, she was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy (in July 1942) and converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser. She was also outfitted as a submarine tender, but was employed mainly as a transport. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armed Merchant Cruiser
An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value trade. In more modern times, auxiliary cruisers were used offensively as merchant raiders to disrupt trade chiefly during both World War I and World War II, particularly by Germany. While armed merchantmen are clearly inferior to purpose-built warships, sometimes they have scored successes in combat against them. Examples include East Indiamen mimicking ships of the line and chasing off regular French warships in the Battle of Pulo Aura in 1804, and the sinking the Australian light cruiser in their battle in 1941, although ''Kormoran'' was also destroyed and had to be scuttled. Pre-20th century East Indiamen of various European countries were heavily armed for their long journeys to the Far East. In part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Momsen
Charles Bowers Momsen (June 21, 1896 – May 25, 1967), nicknamed "Swede", was born in Flushing, New York. He was an American pioneer in submarine rescue for the United States Navy, and he invented the underwater escape device later called the "Momsen lung", for which he received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal in 1929. In May 1939, Momsen directed the rescue of the crew of ''Squalus'' (SS-192). Early years in the Navy Momsen entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1914, but he was dismissed after a widespread cheating scandal during the spring of his first year there. However, Momsen pursued another appointment to the Academy, received it, repeated his plebe year, and graduated in 1919 — one year early, due to the involvement of the United States in World War I. From 1919 to 1921, Momsen served on the battleship ''Oklahoma'' (BB-37). In 1921, he entered the Naval Submarine School in New London, Connecticut, graduating in January 1922. 18 months later, he took command of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
