Engineering:Takasago Maru

Short description: Hospital ship of Imperial Japanese Navy

For the 1880s era warship protected cruiser, see Japanese cruiser Takasago.

File:TakasagoMaru1937.JPG Takasago Maru underway in 1937
General characteristics
Type:	Cargo liner
Tonnage:	9,315 GRT
Length:	142.09 m (466 ft 2 in)
Beam:	18.50 m (60 ft 8 in)
Draft:	7.524 m (24 ft 8.2 in)
Depth:	11.60 m (38 ft 1 in)
Installed power:	12,641 hp (9,426 kW)
Propulsion:	2 x Mitsubishi steam turbines 2 x shafts
Speed:	15.34–20.15 knots (28.41–37.32 km/h; 17.65–23.19 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried:	4 x life boats
Capacity:	901–958 passengers

Takasago Maru was a passenger-cargo liner of OSK Line which later transferred to the Imperial Japanese Navy as a hospital ship.

Construction and career

She was laid down on 9 June 1936 and launched on 1 December 1936 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki. She was commissioned on 28 April 1937 into the Mitsui OSK Line.

Throughout 1937 to 1941, she made trips to Kobe, Keelung and Moji.

On 12 November 1941, she was acquired by the Imperial Japanese Navy and converted to a hospital ship by Kure Naval Arsenal on 1 December. On 8 April 1942, she was mistakenly lightly damaged by and again on 26 April by in the Manipa Strait despite her clear designation as a hospital ship. On 14 June 1941, she carried 500 patients while being escorted by the cruiser . On 15 June, Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki departed the battleship to pay a visit aboard and Takasago Maru. She was attacked by aircraft but no damage was sustained from it while anchored off Shortland on 1 November of the same year.

Takasago Maru was escorted by the destroyer as they arrived at Truk on 5 September 1943. On 18 December, she transferred medical supplies to the cruiser at Harujima. She departed Singapore on 28 February 1944 for Saigon. The supply ship replenish with Takasago Maru on 17 April.

encountered Takasago Maru on 5 February 1945 and was let go as she was clearly marked as a hospital ship. On 19 March, she was anchored near the battleships and during the attack on Kure and escaped the harbor undamaged. conducted an onboard search for violations and contrabands but found her to be clear and let her continue to Wake Island on 2 July. The same thing happened again five days later on 7 July, when conducted a search. While she was in Maizuru on 25 July, planes from the aircraft carrier attacked the harbor but with no hits on Takasago Maru. On 1 December, she was assigned to the Allied Repatriation Service at Kure.

Between 1947 and 1956, she made trips to evacuate Japanese prisoners of war in Siberia and Nakhodka. On 23 March 1956, she was sold to Namura Shipbuilding, K. K., Osaka for scrapping.

Gallery

• Painting of Takasago Maru.
  Painting of Takasago Maru.
• 
  A 1937 poster of Takasago Maru.
• 
  Takasago Maru as a hospital ship in 1945.