History
Japan
Name	Yoshida Maru [1]
Operator	Nippon Yusen ( NYK )
Builder	Hakodate Dock at Hakodate, Hokkaid?
Laid down	1940
Launched	9 May 1941
Completed	30 August 1941
In service	1941 - 1944
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Flasher , 18 February 1944
General characteristics
Class and type	Hirota Maru
Tonnage	2,921  gross register tons  (GRT)
Length	93 m (305 ft)
Beam	13.8 m (45 ft)
Propulsion	1 turbine, single screw
Speed	11 knots (20 km/h)
Notes	Steel construction

The Yoshida Maru ( 吉田丸 ) was a Japanese cargo ship owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha . The ship was built in 1941 by Hakodate Dock at Hakodate on the northern island of Hokkaid?.

History [ edit ]

The Yoshida Maru was built at Hakodate; and she left port in August 1941 on her maiden voyage. ^[2]

The 2,921-ton vessel had a length of 310 feet (93 m), and her beam was 45 feet (13.8 m). The single turbine, single screw propulsion produced an average speed of 11 knots (20 km/h). ^[2]

World War II [ edit ]

Yoshida Maru was requisitioned as an auxiliary gunboat/minelayer of the Imperial Japanese Navy . She was armed with 3 guns of 12 cm and machineguns. On 1 October, 1943 reregistered as an auxiliary transport. ^[3] On 18 January 1944, she was sunk by the submarine USS Flasher at 140 miles west-southwest of Minami-Tori-shima , 23°50′N 151°28′E  /  23.833°N 151.467°E  / 23.833; 151.467 with the loss of 76 passengers, eight crewmen and 15 gunners. ^[4]

See also [ edit ]

• List of Japanese hell ships
• Foreign commerce and shipping of Empire of Japan

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

• Blair, Clay. (2001). Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN   978-1-55750-217-9 ; OCLC   45207785
• Ponsonby-Fane , Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1935). The Nomenclature of the N.Y.K. Fleet. Tokyo : Nippon Yusen Kaisha. OCLC 27933596
• Tate, E. Mowbray. (1986). Transpacific steam: the story of steam navigation from the Pacific Coast of North America to the Far East and the Antipodes, 1867-1941. New York: Cornwall Books. ISBN   978-0-8453-4792-8 ;

OCLC   12370774