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Hōkoku Maru
was an that served as an armed merchant cruiser in the Second World War. She was launched in 1939 and completed in 1940 for Osaka Shosen Lines. In 1941 she was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy. She served as a commerce raider and submarine tender. Two Allied naval ships sank her in a naval engagement in 1942. Building ''Hōkoku Maru'' was designed as a cargo liner for Shosen Line's scheduled services to South America. She was laid down at the Tama shipyard in Okayama Prefecture on 18 August 1938. She was launched on 5 July 1939 and completed on 22 June 1940.Hackett & Kingsepp Designed as a luxury ocean liner, she had a luxury suite of rooms called the Nara Suite after the city of that name. However, the Japanese admiralty influenced the design of the ''Hōkoku Maru''-class, to make them suitable for use as troop ships. The Japanese government provided large subsidies for such dual-purpose designs from 1936 onwards. ''Hōkoku Maru''s registered length was , her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ship Camouflage
Ship camouflage is a form of military deception in which a ship is painted in one or more colors in order to obscure or confuse an enemy's visual observation. Several types of marine camouflage have been used or prototyped: blending or crypsis, in which a paint scheme attempts to hide a ship from view; deception, in which a ship is made to look smaller or, as with the Q-ships, to mimic merchantmen; and dazzle, a chaotic paint scheme which tries to confuse any estimate of distance, direction, or heading. Counterillumination, to hide a darkened ship against the slightly brighter night sky, was trialled by the Royal Canadian Navy in diffused lighting camouflage. Ships were sometimes camouflaged in classical times. Mediterranean pirate ships were sometimes painted blue-gray for concealment. Vegetius records that Julius Caesar's scout ships were painted bluish-green when gathering intelligence along the coast of Britain during the Gallic Wars. Ships were sometimes painted deceptivel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gyrocompass
A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical Direction (geometry), direction automatically. A gyrocompass makes use of one of the seven fundamental ways to determine the heading of a vehicle. A gyroscope is an essential component of a gyrocompass, but they are different devices; a gyrocompass is built to use the effect of gyroscopic precession, which is a distinctive aspect of the general gyroscopic effect. Gyrocompasses, such as the fibre optic gyrocompass are widely used to provide a heading for navigation on ships. This is because they have two significant advantages over magnetic compasses: * they find true north as determined by the axis of the Earth's rotation, which is different from, and navigationally more useful than, Magnetic North Pole#Magnetic north and magnetic declination, ''magnetic'' north, and * they have a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tonnage
Tonnage is a measure of the capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on '' tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume or cargo volume of a ship. Although tonnage (volume) should not be confused with displacement (the actual mass of the vessel), the long ton (or imperial ton) of 2,240 lb is derived from the fact that a " tun" of wine typically weighed that much. Current maritime units Tonnage measurements are governed by an IMO Convention (International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969 (London-Rules)), which initially applied to all ships built after July 1982, and to older ships from July 1994.''Inte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Troopship
A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable to land troops directly on shore, typically loading and unloading at a seaport or onto smaller vessels, either Ship's tender, tenders or barges. Attack transports, a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore, carry their own fleet of landing craft. Landing ships beach themselves and bring their troops directly ashore. History Ships to transport troops were used in antiquity. Ancient Rome used the navis lusoria, a small vessel powered by rowers and sail, to move soldiers on the Rhine and Danube. The modern troopship has as long a history as passenger ships do, as most maritime nations enlisted their support in military operations (either by leasing the vessels or by impressing them into service) when their normal naval forces were deemed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nara, Nara
is the capital city of Nara Prefecture, Japan. , Nara has an estimated population of 367,353 according to World Population Review, making it the largest city in Nara Prefecture and sixth-largest in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara is a core city located in the northern part of Nara Prefecture bordering the Kyoto Prefecture. Nara was the capital of Japan during the Nara period from 710 to 784 as the seat of the Emperor before the capital was moved to Nagaoka-kyō, except for the years 740 to 745, when the capital was placed in Kuni-kyō, Naniwa-kyō and Shigaraki Palace. Nara is home to eight major historic temples, shrines, and heritage sites, specifically Tōdai-ji, Saidai-ji, Kōfuku-ji, Kasuga Shrine, Gangō-ji, Yakushi-ji, Tōshōdai-ji, and the Heijō Palace, together with Kasugayama Primeval Forest, collectively form the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Etymology By the Heian period, a variety of different characters had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ocean Liner
An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). The ''Queen Mary 2'' is the only ocean liner still in service to this day, serving with Cunard Line. The category does not include ferry, ferries or other vessels engaged in short-sea trading, nor dedicated cruise ships where the voyage itself, and not transportation, is the primary purpose of the trip. Nor does it include tramp steamers, even those equipped to handle limited numbers of passengers. Some shipping companies refer to themselves as "lines" and their passenger ships, which often operate over set routes according to established schedules, as "liners". While sharing certain similarities with cruise ships, such as comfort and luxuries for passengers, ocean liners must be able to travel between continents from point A to point B on a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okayama Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,826,059 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture borders Tottori Prefecture to the north, Hyōgo Prefecture to the east, and Hiroshima Prefecture to the west. Okayama is the capital and largest city of Okayama Prefecture, with other major cities including Kurashiki, Tsuyama, and Sōja. Okayama Prefecture's south is located on the Seto Inland Sea coast across from Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, which are connected by the Great Seto Bridge, while the north is characterized by the Chūgoku Mountains. History Prior to the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the area of present-day Okayama Prefecture was divided between Bitchū Province, Bitchū, Bizen Province, Bizen and Mimasaka Province, Mimasaka Provinces. Okayama Prefecture was formed and named in 1871 as part of the large-scale ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keel-laying
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 of the four specially celebrated events in a ship's life; the others are launching, commissioning, and decommissioning. Earlier, the event recognized as the keel laying was the initial placement of the central timber making up the backbone of a vessel, called the keel. As steel ships replaced wooden ones, the central timber gave way to a central steel beam. Modern ships are most commonly built in a series of pre-fabricated, complete hull sections rather than around a single keel. The event recognized as the keel laying is the first joining of modular components, or the lowering of the first module into place in the building dock. It is now often called "keel authentication" and is the ceremonial beginning of the ship's life, although s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion of the Americas. South America is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Drake Passage; North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest. The continent includes twelve sovereign states: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela; two dependent territory, dependent territories: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and one administrative division, internal territory: French Guiana. The Dutch Caribbean ABC islands (Leeward Antilles), ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao) and Trinidad and Tobago are geologically located on the South-American continental shel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cargo Liner
A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to container ships and other more specialized carriers in the latter half of the 20th century. Characteristics A ''cargo liner'' has been defined as: A vessel which operated a regular scheduled service on a fixed route between designated ports and carries many consignments of different commodities. Cargo liners transported general freight, from raw materials to manufactures to merchandise. Many had cargo holds adapted to particular services, with refrigerator space for frozen meats or chilled fruit, tanks for liquid cargos such as plant oils, and lockers for valuables. Cargo liners typically carried passengers as well, usually in a single class. They differed from ocean liners which focussed on the passenger trade, and from tramp steamers whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allies Of World War II
The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international Coalition#Military, military coalition formed during World War II (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers. Its principal members were the "Four Policemen, Big Four" – the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and Republic of China (1912–1949), China. Membership in the Allies varied during the course of the war. When the conflict broke out on 1 September 1939, the Allied coalition consisted of the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, France, and Second Polish Republic, Poland, as well as their respective Dependent territory, dependencies, such as British Raj, British India. They were joined by the independent dominions of the British Commonwealth: Canada, Australia, Dominion of New Zealand, New Zealand and Union of South Africa, South Africa. Consequently, the initial alliance resembled Allies of World War I, that of the First World War. As Axis forces began German invasion of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Submarine Tender
A submarine tender, in British English a submarine depot ship, is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally cannot carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and other supplies, or a full array of maintenance equipment and personnel. The tender carries all these, and either meets submarines at sea to replenish them or provides these services while docked at a port near the submarines' operations zone. In some navies, the tenders were equipped with workshops for maintenance, and as floating dormitories with relief crews. With the increased size and automation of modern submarines, plus in some navies the introduction of nuclear power, tenders are no longer as necessary for fuel as they once were. Canada Canada's first submarine depot ship was . Chile The term used in the Chilean Navy is "submarine mother ship", as for example the BMS (buque madre de submarinos) ''Almir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
