Fishing inspection ship Hakuhō Maru
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History | |
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Empire of Japan | |
Name | Hakuhō Maru |
Builder | Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. |
Laid down | October 15, 1921 |
Launched | 29 March 1922 |
Sponsored by | Japanese Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (農林省) |
Completed | February 16, 1922 |
Acquired | requisitioned by Imperial Japanese Navy, 2 November 1941 |
Identification | 28868 |
Fate | Sunk by aircraft, 14 July 1945 |
Notes |
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General characteristics | |
Class and type | Naval trawler |
Tonnage | 332 gross register tons[1][2] |
Length | 39.6 m (129 ft 11 in) o/a[1] |
Beam | 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)[1] |
Draught | 4.1 m (13 ft 5 in)[1] |
Installed power | 480 bhp (358 kW)[1] |
Hakuhō Maru (Japanese: 白鳳丸) was a Japanese deep sea trawler and survey/inspection ship that was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II and served in varying roles as a patrol boat, transport ship, cargo ship, minesweeper, and escort ship.[3][4]
Hakuhō Maru was commissioned by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (農林省).[3] She was laid down on October 15, 1921 at the Hikoshima Shipyard of Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (三菱造船株式會社彦島造), completed on February 16, 1922 and launched on 29 March 1922.[3] She worked primarily as a fishery enforcement, inspection, and survey ship in the Sea of Okhotsk, the Kurile Islands, the Bering Sea, and the North Pacific.[3] On 2 November 1941, she was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy and assigned to the Fifth Fleet (Northern Area Force)[3] as part of the 13th Minesweeper Division under Captain Toshio Mitsuka (along with Kaihō Maru and Shunkotsu Maru).[5][6] The unit was part of the Kiska invasion force under Captain Takeji Ono during the Aleutian Islands campaign.[7][5] On 14 July 1945, while sailing on patrol from Kushiro to Hakodate, she was engaged by ten aircraft and received 6 direct hits.[3] Heavily damaged, she was grounded and abandoned.[3]
shunkotsu.
—It is an interesting quirk that during the war the Hakuhō Maru was requisitioned by the IJN and served as a minesweeper. It formed part of the Kiska Invasions force: Minesweeper Division 13 under the command of Capt. Mitsuka Toshio (see Appendix I). — Today the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology operates an oceanographic research vessel of the same name.