Aikoku Maru (1940)

Aikoku Maru was laid down at the Mitsui Tamano shipyards in Okayama Prefecture on 29 December 1938. The vessel measured 10,438 gross register tons, with a length of . Powered by two Mitsui B&W diesel engines with driving twin screws, she was capable of . The vessel was launched on 25 April 1940, and was named Aikoku Maru at that time. She was designed to be a combined passenger liner / cargo vessel for the Osaka Shosen Lines's regularly scheduled services to South America. Provisionally named Kyoto, the design for the new vessel was to have boasted of luxurious suite rooms. The vessel was built with large government subsidies provided from 1936 to encourage the production of large, high-speed transports and tankers, which could be quickly converted to military use in times of conflict. Although ostensibly a luxury ocean liner, the military had a say in the design of Aikoku Maru with an eye towards its future use as a troop transport. Provision was made for landing craft and for the anchoring of naval artillery. ==Operational history==

Immediately on completion on 31 August 1941, Aikoku Maru was officially requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was converted into an armed merchant cruiser from 5 September while still at Tamano, with the installation of four 15 cm/50 41st Year Type guns, two QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns, two Type 93 13.2 mm machine guns and two twin-mount torpedo tubes. She was also fitted with powerful searchlights and boom for handling a Kawanishi E7K float plane (with one additional aircraft as a spare). As an auxiliary cruiser and submarine tender On 15 October 1941, the 24th Raider Squadron (CruDiv24), consisting of Aikoku Maru, , and was created under the Combined Fleet. Aikoku Maru and her sister ship Hōkoku Maru were forward deployed to Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands at the end of November in preparation for the upcoming hostilities against the United States. On 13 December 1941, Aikoku Maru and Hōkoku Maru sank SS Vincent (6,210 GWT), an American merchant vessel with a cargo of rice from Australia to Panama at . On 31 December 1941, the reconnaissance floatplane from Aikoku Maru spotted the American freighter (3,275 GWT) en route to Wellington. The plane failed to return, and despite searching by both Japanese vessels, no trace was ever found of the missing aircraft. The second floatplane reacquired SS Malama south of the Cook Islands on 2 January 1942, and after making a strafing attack, ordered the ship to stop. After the crew of Malama abandoned ship, she was sunk at . Aside from the missing pilot, there were no casualties on either side, and the sortie was concluded on 20 January 1942. CruDiv24 returned to Hashirajima in February, after disembarking their 76 POWs at Oita. On 14 February 1942, at Kure Naval Arsenal, Aikoku Marus four 152 mm guns were replaced by eight 14 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns. She was also modified to carry submarine torpedoes in her hold to enable her to function as an auxiliary submarine tender. In this capacity, Aikoku Maru and Hōkoku Maru were deployed with the IJN 6th Fleet on 10 March to support submarine operations off the east coast of Africa and Mozambique. At the end of March, Aikoku Maru and Hōkoku Maru returned to Kure, where CruDiv24 was formally disbanded, and they are reassigned to Subron8, operating out of Penang from early April, supporting submarine operations in the western Indian Ocean. On 9 May, Aikoku Maru captured the Dutch tanker Genota (7,897 GWT) SSE of Diego Suarez, Madagascar. On 5 June, she sank SS Elysia (6,757 GWT), a British freighter carrying a number of Allied troops at . On 12 July, she captured the New Zealand registered freighter Hauraki near Ceylon. She placed a prize crew on board, but en route back to Japan, her New Zealander engine crew managed to sabotage the cargo and engine spares. As a military transport From 16 December 1942, Aikoku Maru was reassigned back to the IJN 8th Fleet, primarily as a military transport to support New Guinea operations, and her aircraft were disembarked. While unloading cargo at Madang on 18 December, she was attacked in an air raid by B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the 43rd Bomb Group of the USAAF Fifth Air Force, but was not hit. She returned to Kure on 29 December 1942. Aikoku Maru was removed from the navy list on 30 March 1944. ==Shipwreck==

The wreck of Aikoku Maru is a popular scuba diving spot in the waters of Truk Lagoon, despite her depth of approximately . The wreck is upright, with the bridge at the meter level and deck extending approximately deeper. The remains of an anti-aircraft gun on top of the aft deckhouse is often photographed, as are the scattered dishes and kitchen utensils in her galley. Her wreck was first dived by the famous French explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1969, but she was not positively identified until later. In July 1980, a Japanese recovery team retrieved the remains of approximately 400 men who were killed in the attack, but the remains of hundreds more remain on site. On 17 February 1994, a memorial monument was placed on Aikoku Maru′s deck at a depth of approximately . The monument was a joint project of the Chuuk Visitors Bureau, United States Air Force Civic Action Team (CAT), the Chuuk Atoll-based dive boat SS Thorfinn, and the Blue Lagoon dive shop at Chuuk Atoll. ==Notes==