SS Taimei Maru (1936)

Taimei Maru straddled by bombs in March 1943
History
Japan
Name:	Taimei Maru
Owner:	Kinkai Yusen K.K. Nippon Yusen K.K.
Builder:	Mitsubishi Jukogyo K.K., Yokohama
Completed:	July 1936
Fate:	Sunk by aircraft on 3 March 1943 at 07°15'S, 148°30'E
General characteristics
Tonnage:	2,883 GRT 1,450 NRT
Length:	326.2 feet (99.4 m)
Beam:	44.2 feet (13.5 m)
Draught:	24 feet (7.3 m)
Installed power:	284 NHP
Propulsion:	Triple expansion engines

Taimei Maru was a 2,883 ton transport ship of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

Built by Mitsubishi Jukogyo K.K., Yokohama and launched in 1936 for Kinkai Yusen K.K.^[1] She was sold in 1939 to Nippon Yusen K.K..

She left Rabaul, New Britain on 1 March 1943, as part of Operation 81, carrying a cargo of troops, equipment, fuel, landing craft and ammunition for Lae, New Guinea.^[2] The convoy was attacked by aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces and Royal Australian Air Force from 2 March 1943, known as the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Taimei Maru was bombed on 3 March and sank at 07°15'S., 148°30'E.
Of those aboard, some 200 were killed during the attack.^[3]

Notes

1. "Lloyd's Register 1942-43" (PDF). plimsollshipdata. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
2. McAulay 1991, p. 39
3. "Taimei Maru". Shipwrecks. Retrieved 2016-10-01.

References

• McAulay, Lex (1991). Battle of the Bismarck Sea. New York: St Martins Press. ISBN 0-312-05820-9. OCLC 23082610.