The was a type of
cargo ship of
Japan, serving during the 1930s and
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 opposing ...
. Four of the five ships of the class were converted to
seaplane tenders during the war.
History
In 1930, the Ōsaka Mercantile Steamship Co.Ltd. (O.S.K. Lines) put into service the
''Kinai Maru''-class cargo ship[8300 tons, 18.5 kt. , , , , , , , and .] on the Japan-
New York route. Competing Japanese steamship companies produced and placed their own cargo ships on the North America route.
In 1936, the Kawasaki Line built four ''Kamikawa Maru''-class ships. They had much higher cruising speeds and capacity than their competitors. However, they were commandeered in sequence and did not survive to the end of the war.
Ships in class
Service
Photos
Image:KiyokawaMaru.JPG, Kawasaki Line ''Kiyokawa Maru''
Image:KimikawaMaru.JPG, Kawasaki Line ''Kimikawa Maru''
Image:KunikawaMaru.JPG, Kawasaki Line ''Kunikawa Maru''
Image:HirokawaMaru.JPG, Kawasaki Line ''Hirokawa Maru''
Image:Kamikawa-maru 1939.jpg, IJN ''Kamikawa Maru'' circa 1939 at Xiamen
Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an ...
Image:KamikawaMaru-1942.jpg, IJN ''Kamikawa Maru'' in June 1942 at Kiska
Kiska ( ale, Qisxa, russian: Кыска) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is require ...
Image:KimikawaMaru-1942.jpg, IJN ''Kimikawa Maru'' in Autumn 1942 at Ōminato Naval Base
Image:KimikawaMaru-1943.jpg, IJN ''Kimikawa Maru'' in April 1943 at Ōminato Naval Base
Image:KamikawaMaru-1943.jpg, IJN ''Kamikawa Maru''-class in 1943
Image:KimikawaMaru-1943a.jpg, IJN ''Kimikawa Maru'' in Summer 1943
Image:Kiyokawa_Maru_and_Mochizuki_at_Lae_1942.jpg, IJN ''Kiyokawa Maru'' (above) on 10 March 1942
Footnotes
Bibliography
*Tashirō Iwashige, ''The visual guide of Japanese wartime merchant marine'', (Japan), May 2009
*Shinshichirō Komamiya, ''The Wartime Convoy Histories'', (Japan), October 1987
*Monthly Ships of the World, (Japan)
**No. 481, Special issue Vol. 40, ''History of Japanese aircraft carriers'', May 1994
**No. 525, June 1997
**No. 600, September 2002
*Science of the Ships No. 403,
Ministry of Transport
A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...
, May 1982
*The Maru Special, Japanese Naval Vessels No. 25, ''Japanese seaplane tenders w/ auxiliary seaplane tenders'', (Japan), March 1979
{{WWII Japanese auxiliary ships
World War II naval ships of Japan
Cargo ships of Japan
Auxiliary depot ship classes