 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Tenyo Maru |
| Owner |
|
| Builder | Mitsubishi, Nagasaki |
| Laid down | 3 July 1934 |
| Launched | 22 January 1935 |
| In service | 9 September 1941 |
| Stricken | 1 April 1942 |
| Fate | Sunk by US carrier aircraft on 10 March 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 6,843 GRT |
| Length | 435 feet (133 m)[1] |
| Beam | 58.5 feet (17.8 m) |
| Draught | 32.8 feet (10.0 m) |
Tenyo Maru was a 6,843-gross register ton passenger cargo ship built by Mitsubishi,Nagasaki for Toyo Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha in 1935. She was chartered to Mitsui and plied the New York route until she was requisitioned on 9 September 1941 by theImperial Japanese Navy duringWorld War II and converted at theHarima shipyard to a minelayer, which was completed on 31 October 1941.
Assigned to the Mine Division 19, of theFourth Fleet, she landed troops atMakin Island. As part of the Rabaul invasion fleet, she carried air base construction materials.
On 10 March 1942, during theinvasion of Lae-Salamaua,Tenyo Maru suffered two direct bomb hits from aircraft from theUnited States Navy aircraft carriersUSS Lexington andUSS Yorktown, broke in two and sank off Lae, New Guinea.Tenyo Maru was removed from the Navy List on 1 April 1942.
The bow of the ship was still visible above the water, at the end of the formerLae Airport in the 1970s.
