Japanese Transport Ship Hakuyo Maru (1942)
History
She was laid down on 3 July 1941 at the Kobe shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. for the benefit of Osaka Merchant Shipping Co., Ltd., Osaka. She was launched on 29 August 1942 and completed on 29 December 1942.
23 October 1944, she left Kataoka Bay Naval Base, Shimushu Island, Kuril Islands for Otaru in convoy WO-303 consisting of transports Hokoku Maru and Umegawa Maru escorted by the destroyer Kamikaze and Etorofu-class escort ship Fukue. The transports are filled with naval personnel and fishery workers being removed to the homeland for the winter from the islands of Shimushu and Paramushiro.
On 25 October 1944, she was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Seal at 50°21′N 150°20′E / 50.350°N 150.333°E west of the Kuril Islands. She sank quickly in the frigid waters with 1,415 lives lost including 1,312 passengers. Seal evaded depth charge attacks by the escorts and the remainder of the convoy reached Otaru safely.
References
- ^ Nagasawa, Fumio (1998). "白陽丸 HAKUYO MARU (1942)". Nostalgic Japanese Steamships (in Japanese).
- ^ Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2012). "Kaibokan! IJN Escort Fukue: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
- ^ Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2012). "Rikugun Yusosen! IJN Escort Umekawa Maru Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
- ^ "Chapter VII: 1944". Hyperwar - The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy during World War II.
- ^ "Chronological List of Japanese Merchant Vessel Losses". Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee.
