The was a Japanese cargo ship from the Seia Maru-class, which was sunk in military service by ML-KNIL Brewsters during World War II. It was part of the

11th Air Fleet The was a grouping of naval aviation and surface units. Assignments and Components Commanders Chiefs of Staff Notes References * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Fleets of the Imperial Japanese Navy Units of the Imperial Japanese N ...

History

Construction was ordered on 17 June 1939 by Kokusai Kisen K.K.. During construction, the ship was taken over by

Osaka Shosen Kaisha Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (; abbreviated MOL) is a Japanese transport Company (law), company headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the largest shipping companies in the world. Founded as a key part of the Mitsui ''zaibatsu'' ...

. It was built by Harima Zosensho K.K. and was laid down and named ''Nana Maru'' on 16 April 1940. On 29 June, construction was finished and the ship started service between Japan and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Because of the war, the

Japanese Imperial 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, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

requisitioned the ship on 21 September 1941 so that it could be used as a transport ship.

Sinking

On 23 January 1942, during the Battle of Balikpapan, the Japanese troop convoy of which the ''Nana Maru'' was part, was attacked at in the

Makassar Strait Makassar Strait () is a strait between the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi in Indonesia. To the north it joins the Celebes Sea, while to the south it meets the Java Sea. To the northeast, it forms the Sangkulirang Bay south of the Mangkalihat P ...

by aircraft from the

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force (, ML-KNIL) was the air arm of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) from 1939 until 1950. It was an entirely separate organisation from the Royal Netherl ...

. Eerste luitenant Pieter Anna Hoyer and Sergeant Albert Eduard Stoové of the 2-VLG-V squadron dropped bombs from their

Brewster F2A Buffalo The Brewster F2A Buffalo is an American fighter aircraft which saw service early in World War II. Designed and built by the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, it was one of the first U.S. monoplanes with an arrestor hook and other modificatio ...

onto the ship's deck. At 17:30 the captain ordered abandon ship, the crippled ''Nana Maru'' sank at 21:00 after a large explosion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nana Maru Ships built in Japan World War II merchant ships of Japan Cargo ships sunk by aircraft 1940 ships Shipwrecks in the Makassar Strait World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Maritime incidents in January 1942