Sakito Maru

Sakito Maru
History
Japan
Builder: Mitsubishi Zosen Kaisha (Nagasaki)
Launched: 1939
In service: 1939-1944
Out of service: 1 March 1944
Fate: Torpedoed and sunk 1 March 1944
General characteristics
Type: Troop transport
Tonnage: 7,126 tons
Length: 145 m
Beam: 19 m
Draught: 12.5 m
Speed: 19.7 knots

Sakito Maru was a 7,126-ton Japanese troop transport during World War II, which sank on 1 March 1944 with great loss of life.

Sakito Maru was built in 1939 by the Mitsubishi Zosen Kaisha in Nagasaki for the Nippon Yusen shipping company.

On 29 February 1944, Sakito Maru was carrying the Japanese 18th Infantry Regiment. as part of convoy MATSU-01 which transported the 29th Infantry Division of the Kwantung Army from Manchuria to Guam. Matsu No. 1 consisted of four large transports escorted by three Yūgumo-class destroyers of Destroyer Division 31: Asashimo, Kishinami, and Okinami.

The convoy was attacked by the American submarine USS Trout about 625 miles east of Taiwan.[1] The submarine badly damaged the large passenger-cargo Aki Maru and sank Sakito Maru. Sakito Maru was hit around 17:56 by two torpedoes and caught fire. She sank at 04:00 killing 2,358 soldiers, 65 ship's gunners and 52 crewmen of the 3,500 men on board. Also lost were several light tanks and most of the regiment's equipment.[2]

Asashimo detected the submarine USS Trout and dropped 19 depth charges. Oil and debris came to the surface and the destroyer dropped a final depth charge on that spot, sinking the American submarine at the position 22°40′N 131°45′E / 22.667°N 131.750°E / 22.667; 131.750Coordinates: 22°40′N 131°45′E / 22.667°N 131.750°E / 22.667; 131.750.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Sakito Maru (+1944)". Wrecksite. Retrieved 2016-09-18.
  2. ↑ Bob Hackett. "IJA Transport SAKITO MARU: Tabular Record of Movement". Retrieved 2016-09-18.
  3. ↑ Hoyt, Edwin P. (1980). To the Marianas: War in the Central Pacific: 1944. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. p. 240.
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