''Nagara Maru'' (''Japanese:'' 長良丸) was a Japanese cargo ship that was requisitioned by the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and converted into an auxiliary netlayer.

History

She was laid down 25 April 1939 at the Goshi Kaisha Urabe Zosen Tekkosho shipyard for the benefit of Sankyo Kaiun K.K. She was launched on 21 February 1940, completed on 8 April 1940, and registered in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. She worked as a cargo ship until 12 September 1941, when she was requisitioned by the

. She was designated as an auxiliary net-layer and her conversion was started on 24 September 1941 at the shipyard of Niigata Iron Works Company Limited. Her sister ships, ''Uji Maru'' and ''Kumano Maru'', were also requisitioned and converted into auxiliary netlayers. She was assigned to the Third Fleet, as part of the 54th Subchaser Division (along with subchasers ''Shonan Maru No. 1'' and ''Shonan Maru No. 2''). The division was attached to the 2nd Base Force based at Takao,

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...

. Her commanding officer was Lieutenant Sadazo Takezawa (竹澤定三).

Invasion of Batan Island

She was assigned to the Batan Island occupation force which began simultaneously with the

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. At the tim ...

tasked with establishing an air base to support future operations against American forces on

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

during the invasion of the Philippines. On 7 December 1941, the 54th Subchaser division along with the 52nd Subchaser Division ( ''Shonan Maru No. 17'', ''Takunan Maru No. 5'', '' Fukuei Maru No. 15'') and the 53rd Subchaser Division ('' Korei Maru'', ''Kyo Maru No. 2'', ''Kyo Maru No.11'') left Takao with

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

transport ''Teiun Maru'' carrying part of the 24th Airfield Battalion. On 8 December 1941, she met with remainder of the occupation force off the coast of Batan Island consisting of transport ''Kumagawa Maru'', destroyer , four ''Chidori''-class torpedo boats (''Chidori'', ''Manazuru'', ''Tomozuru'', ''Hatsukari''), two ''W-13''-class minesweepers (''W-13'', ''W-14''), two patrol boats ( ''Patrol Boat No. 1'', ''Patrol Boat No. 2''), two ''Tsubame''-class minelayers (''Kamome'', ''Tsubame''), three converted gunboats ('' Aso Maru'', ''Koso Maru'', ''Nampo Maru''), and seaplane tender, '' Sanuki Maru'' escorted by destroyer '' Tachikaze''.

Demise

After Batan, she primarily was involved in escort and anti-submarine duties around the islands of the Philippines and Indonesia. On 1 January 1945, Lieutenant Toru Kato (加藤徹) was named commander. On 5 March 1945, she was sunk by torpedoes from the submarine USS ''Sea Robin'' at () 145 km east-northeast of

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. On 10 May 1945, she was struck from the Navy List.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagara Maru 1940 ships Auxiliary ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy Ships sunk by American submarines Net laying ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy