Wreck of SS Kyokusei Maru
| Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, ship, shipwreck, cargo
Papua New Guinea /
Madang /
Finschhafen /
World
/ Papua New Guinea
/ Madang
/ Finschhafen
Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, ship, shipwreck, cargo
Built in Vancouver, Canada at the J. Coughlan & Sons shipyard in 1920 as the commercial freigther SS Margaret Coughlan for the Western Canada Steamship Company, the Kyokusei Maru operated for a variety of owners under a variety of names during her commercial career before being purchased by the Asashi Shoki Steamship Line of Tokyo in 1938 and gaining her final name.
Serving her new owners in the peacetime trades for only three years, the aging vessel was acquisitioned for service with the Imperial Japanese Navy as a troop transport ship following the outbreak of war in December 1941, and after a hasty refit for military duty she put to sea to support the Japanese advance into the Dutch East Indies. Operating primarily as a reinforcement vessel due to her slower top speed, the Kyokusei Maru spent much of early 1942 moving Japanese forces throughout the former Dutch Colony as it rapidly fell. Tasked with her most notorious operation in May 1942, the ship pulled into Belawan, Sumatra and took aboard a human cargo of roughly 1,200 British and Dutch POW's and set out for Victoria Point, Burma on a four-day voyage that would forever have her name linked with the term "Hell Ship" owing to the horrific conditions experienced by the men crammed into her cargo holds.
Continuing her transport duties throughout the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere through the Summer of 1942, the Allied Invastion of Guadalcanal brought the Kyokusei Maru her next major troop transport assignment, and after calling at Shanghai in December 1942 she loaded a portion of the 6th Infantry Division and sailed for Truk as part of a reinforcement convoy. Remaining in Truk Lagoon after the successful completion of her voyage, the Kyokusei Maru was eventually ordered to load supplies and steam for Rabaul, where Japanese forces were mustering to reinforce their garrisons on New Guinea.
Once again serving in the role of a Troopship shortly after her arrival at Rabaul, Kyokusei took aboard 1,200 troops of the 115th Infantry Regiment, equipment, fuel, landing craft and ammunition and joined the massive "Operation 81" reinforcement convoy destined for Lae, New Guinea. Standing out of Rabaul at 2330hrs on February 28th and steaming under heavy escort the convoy made its way West through the Bismarck Sea, the Kyokusei Maru took her position in the Starboard column of transports.
Sheilded by low cloud cover as dawn gave way to day on March 1st, the Maru's crew kept a way eye out for any sign of enemy ships or aircraft as they neared Cape Gloucester and the Dampier Strait beyond. With the cloud deck thinning as the night of March 1st wore on into the dawn of March 2nd, the first reports that high-altitude aircraft had been sighted found Kyokusei Maru's small band of anti-aircraft gunners at their positions and ready to fight. Unfortunately, by the time the enemy aircraft were identified as a force of 10 high-flying B-17's split into two groups, the first strings of bombs were already on their way down onto the convoy. With her meager AA armament unable to reach her attackers at their altitude, Kyokusei Maru was left little option but to attempt evasive manuevers to avoid the strings of bombs falling around her, but after half an hour of frantic action a bomber crew succeeded in catching the ship in the middle of a well-placed bombload.
Suffering two direct hits amidships by 1,000lb bombs, the unarmored freighter suffered catastrophic damage to her hull and propulsion systems, but the damage to her human cargo was far more severe. Going dead in the water and presenting a vulnerable target for further bombs, Kyokusei Maru was immediately set upon by a pair of escorting Destroyers who began removing as many men and supplies as their decks could handle as the ship slowly began to heel over and flounder, eventually rescuing approximately 800 of the over 1,200 soldiers and crew aboard the ship before she finally gave out and sank at this location at 0926hrs on March 2nd, 1943.
The loss of the Kyokusei Maru marked the beginning of the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, which would rage for over three days and result in a catastrophic defeat for the Japanese Empire.
Serving her new owners in the peacetime trades for only three years, the aging vessel was acquisitioned for service with the Imperial Japanese Navy as a troop transport ship following the outbreak of war in December 1941, and after a hasty refit for military duty she put to sea to support the Japanese advance into the Dutch East Indies. Operating primarily as a reinforcement vessel due to her slower top speed, the Kyokusei Maru spent much of early 1942 moving Japanese forces throughout the former Dutch Colony as it rapidly fell. Tasked with her most notorious operation in May 1942, the ship pulled into Belawan, Sumatra and took aboard a human cargo of roughly 1,200 British and Dutch POW's and set out for Victoria Point, Burma on a four-day voyage that would forever have her name linked with the term "Hell Ship" owing to the horrific conditions experienced by the men crammed into her cargo holds.
Continuing her transport duties throughout the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere through the Summer of 1942, the Allied Invastion of Guadalcanal brought the Kyokusei Maru her next major troop transport assignment, and after calling at Shanghai in December 1942 she loaded a portion of the 6th Infantry Division and sailed for Truk as part of a reinforcement convoy. Remaining in Truk Lagoon after the successful completion of her voyage, the Kyokusei Maru was eventually ordered to load supplies and steam for Rabaul, where Japanese forces were mustering to reinforce their garrisons on New Guinea.
Once again serving in the role of a Troopship shortly after her arrival at Rabaul, Kyokusei took aboard 1,200 troops of the 115th Infantry Regiment, equipment, fuel, landing craft and ammunition and joined the massive "Operation 81" reinforcement convoy destined for Lae, New Guinea. Standing out of Rabaul at 2330hrs on February 28th and steaming under heavy escort the convoy made its way West through the Bismarck Sea, the Kyokusei Maru took her position in the Starboard column of transports.
Sheilded by low cloud cover as dawn gave way to day on March 1st, the Maru's crew kept a way eye out for any sign of enemy ships or aircraft as they neared Cape Gloucester and the Dampier Strait beyond. With the cloud deck thinning as the night of March 1st wore on into the dawn of March 2nd, the first reports that high-altitude aircraft had been sighted found Kyokusei Maru's small band of anti-aircraft gunners at their positions and ready to fight. Unfortunately, by the time the enemy aircraft were identified as a force of 10 high-flying B-17's split into two groups, the first strings of bombs were already on their way down onto the convoy. With her meager AA armament unable to reach her attackers at their altitude, Kyokusei Maru was left little option but to attempt evasive manuevers to avoid the strings of bombs falling around her, but after half an hour of frantic action a bomber crew succeeded in catching the ship in the middle of a well-placed bombload.
Suffering two direct hits amidships by 1,000lb bombs, the unarmored freighter suffered catastrophic damage to her hull and propulsion systems, but the damage to her human cargo was far more severe. Going dead in the water and presenting a vulnerable target for further bombs, Kyokusei Maru was immediately set upon by a pair of escorting Destroyers who began removing as many men and supplies as their decks could handle as the ship slowly began to heel over and flounder, eventually rescuing approximately 800 of the over 1,200 soldiers and crew aboard the ship before she finally gave out and sank at this location at 0926hrs on March 2nd, 1943.
The loss of the Kyokusei Maru marked the beginning of the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, which would rage for over three days and result in a catastrophic defeat for the Japanese Empire.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Kyokusei_Maru
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 5°2'0"S 148°13'59"E
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