''Tenyo Maru'' was a 6,843-gross register ton passenger cargo ship built by Mitsubishi,

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

for Toyo Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha in 1935. She was chartered to Mitsui and plied the New York route until she was requisitioned on 9 September 1941 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 at the Harima shipyard to a minelayer, which was completed on 31 October 1941. Assigned to the Mine Division 19, of the Fourth Fleet, she landed troops at Makin Island. As part of the Rabaul invasion fleet, she carried air base construction materials.

Fate

On 10 March 1942, during the

invasion of Lae-Salamaua An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives of c ...

, ''Tenyo Maru'' suffered two direct bomb hits from aircraft from the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

aircraft carriers and , broke in two and sank off Lae, New Guinea. ''Tenyo Maru'' was removed from the Navy List on 1 April 1942. The bow of the ship was still visible above the water, at the end of the former

Lae Airport Lae Airport is a public use airport at Lae on Lae Atoll, Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micron ...

in the 1970s.

Notes

External links

Chronological List of Japanese Merchant Vessel Losses
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenyo Maru (1935) 1935 ships Minelayers of the Imperial Japanese Navy Ships sunk by US aircraft Shipwrecks of Papua New Guinea Maritime incidents in March 1942