 Seisho Maru had design and measurements similar toWest Carnifax, a sister ship from the same shipyard seen here. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name |
|
| Owner |
|
| Port of registry |
|
| Builder | |
| Yard number | 2[1] |
| Launched | 31 December 1918[2] |
| Sponsored by | Miss Betty Howard[3] |
| Completed | February 1919[2] |
| Identification | JapaneseOfficial number: 33570[2] |
| Fate | Sunk November 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Cargo ship |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 410 ft 5 in (125.10 m) (LPP)[2] |
| Beam | 54 ft 6 in (16.61 m)[2] |
| Propulsion | 1 ×triple-expansion steam engine[2] |
| Speed | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h)[2] |
Seisho Maru (Japanese:盛祥丸,[4]Seishō Maru ) was acargo ship forMitsui Bussan Kaisho in military service that was sunk by an American submarine duringWorld War II. The ship had been built asSSWest Caruth, a cargo ship for theUnited States Shipping Board (USSB) shortly after the end ofWorld War I. Shortly after completion, the ship was inspected by theUnited States Navy for possible use asUSSWest Caruth (ID-2850) but was neither taken into the Navy nor evercommissioned under that name. Before being sold to Japanese owners in 1928, she was also known asSSExmoor andSSAntonio Tripcovich.
West Caruth was built in 1918 for the USSB, as a part of theWest boats, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built on theWest Coast of the United States for the World War I war effort, and was the second ship built atSouthwestern Shipbuilding inSan Pedro, California. After operating for four years under Americanregistry, she was sold several times and operated under British, Italian, and Japanese registry throughout the remainder of her career. In November 1944, while serving as Japanese transportSeisho Maru duringWorld War II, she was sunk by U.S. Navy submarineSunfish.
The West ships werecargo ships of similar size and design built by several shipyards on theWest Coast of the United States for the USSB for emergency use duringWorld War I. All were given names that began with the word West, likeWest Caruth,[5] the second of some 18 West ships built by theSouthwestern Shipbuilding ofSan Pedro, California.[1]West Caruth (Southwestern Shipbuilding No. 2)[1] waslaunched at 08:00 on 31 December 1918 by sponsor Betty Howard, the nine-year-old daughter of company vice president, William F. Howard,[3] and completed in February 1919.[1]
West Caruth was 5,632 gross register tons (GRT),[2] and was 410 feet 5 inches (125.10 m) long (between perpendiculars) and 54 feet 6 inches (16.61 m)abeam. The ship had a singletriple-expansion steam engine that drove a singlescrew propeller, and moved the ship at up to 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h).[2]
West Caruth was inspected by the12th Naval District of theUnited States Navy after completion for possible use as a servicecollier and was assigned the identification number of 3850. Had she beencommissioned, she would have been known as USSWest Caruth (ID-3850), but the Navy neither took over the ship nor commissioned her.[6]
The cargo ship sailed for the USSB under American registry for the first four years of her existence, and sailed to thewest African ports ofDakar andMonrovia through 1921.[7] TheLos Angeles Times reported thatWest Caruth sailed out ofLos Angeles in both transpacific and European–Pacific service for two years.[8]
In 1923,[2]West Caruth was sold to the North Devon Steamship Company and operated astramp steamerExmoor under the British flag. In 1924, she was purchased by theTripcovich Shipping Company ofTrieste and sailed under the Italian flag asAntonio Tripcovich. Four years later, she was renamedSeisho Maru as a part ofOguma Shoten Gomei Kaisha ofTsurumi under Japanese registry. By the early 1930sSeisho Maru had been sold toMitsui Bussan Kaisho.[8]
There is scant record of the ship's movements under any of her later names. TheLos Angeles Times reported her arrival at West Coast ports asSeisho Maru at least twice. In March 1930, the ship arrived atTacoma, Washington, fromSingapore to pick up a load of logs for export.[9] Another notice in November 1933 noted her impending return to Los Angeles, where she was scheduled to take on a load ofborax and scrap brass.[8] In early May 1939,Seisho Maru ran aground inTokyo Bay,[10] but was refloated after several days.[11]
DuringWorld War II,Seisho Maru served as an army transport,[12] but sources reporting her movements are incomplete. It is known that she was one of some 20 ships that departedTakau as part of three combined convoys—TASA-17, TE-03, and No. 82—in mid-April 1944.[13]
Seisho Maru and seven other ships formed convoy MI-27 which departedMoji forMiri,Borneo, on 15 November that same year. Escorted by a convertedminesweeper (W-101) and three smaller escorts (Type D escort shipCD-134 and twoNo.1-class auxiliary submarine chasers,CHa-156 andCHa-157), the convoy hugged the coast of theKorean peninsula to try to avoid American submarines.[14] Nevertheless, a group of three submarines—Peto,Spadefish, andSunfish—found and attacked the convoy on the night of 17/18 November.[12] Torpedoes fromSunfish sankEdogawa Maru and damagedSeisho Maru shortly after 22:00, whilePeto sankOsakasan Maru at 23:40. At 01:30, the damagedSeisho Maru engaged in a gun battle with a surfaced submarine. Then, at 03:17, another spread of torpedoes fromSunfish finished offSeisho Maru,[14] which sank at position33°36′N124°18′E / 33.600°N 124.300°E /33.600; 124.300 in theEast China Sea.[12][Note 1] 412 soldiers and 36 crewmen were killed.[15]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in May 1939 | |
|---|---|
| Shipwrecks |
|
| Other incidents |
|
