Kongo Maru sinking near Lae |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Kongō Maru |
| Owner: | Kokusai Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha (1935-1941) Imperial Japanese Army (1941-1942) |
| Builder: | Harima Shibuilding and Co. Arima Aioi |
| Laid down: | 22 February 1934 |
| Commissioned: | 7 December 1935 |
| In service: | 6 August 1941 |
| Struck: | 20 March 1942 |
| Fate: | Sunk by US carrier aircraft on 10 March 1942 |
| Status: | Shipwreck |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 8,624 gross ton |
| Length: | 453.5 feet (138.2 m)[1] |
| Beam: | 60.7 feet (18.5 m) |
| Draught: | 30.8 feet (9.4 m) |
The Kongō Maru was a 8,624 gross ton passenger cargo ship built by Harima Shibuilding and Company, Arima Aioi for Kokusai Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha in 1935, she was requistioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy, during the Second World War and converted to an armed merchant cruiser.
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The Kongō Maru operated in Philippine trade routes and then to the eastern part of North America using the Panama Canal in 1935 and continued in this trade until the August 1941.
On 6 August 1941, she was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy and was converted to an armed merchant cruiser. Her conversion was completed on 14 October and was sent to Truk. She participated in the first attempt to invade Wake Island on 8 December 1941. She was bombed by United States aircraft, using depth charges and caught fire. The fires were brought under control and she returned to Roi. She later participated in the second attack on Wake Island on 21 December of 1941 and the battle of Rabaul on 22 January 1942.
During the invasion of Lae-Salamaua on 10 March 1942, the Kongo Maru was bombed and sunk by aircraft from the United States Navy aircraft carriers USS Lexington and USS Yorktown at 6-49S, 147-02E.