''Teiyō Maru'' was an auxiliary fleet oiler of 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 ...

(IJN) 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 ...

. She was converted from civilian service to a naval auxiliary as the

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

attack force sailed; and participated in the major offensive operations of the first six months of

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

combat. She then served in the northern Pacific until July 1944, and was sunk in the battle for convoy Hi-71 when reassigned to the defense of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

History

''Teiyō Maru'' was completed as a civilian tanker in 1931 and requisitioned by the Navy as a

replenishment oiler A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. Th ...

on 22 November 1941. Yokohama Dock Company completed the conversion to a naval auxiliary on 4 December 1941. ''Teiyō Maru'' served with replenishment group no. 1 for the Java Invasion Force, and later with replenishment group no. 2 for the Indian Ocean raid, and with the 5th Fleet for the Japanese occupation of Attu and

Kiska Kiska (, ) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is required to visit it. The island has ...

. ''Teiyō Maru'' was then converted for cold weather operations and served for two years as a replenishment oiler for ships between

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

and the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

. On 30 July 1944 ''Teiyō Maru'' was attached to convoy Hi-71 carrying Operation ''Shō'' reinforcements to the Philippines. The convoy sailed into the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

from

Mako , better known by the mononym name Mako (sometimes stylised MAKO), is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actress, singing, singer and a member of the band Bon-Bon Blanco, in which her prominent role is as the maraca player. She has also perf ...

naval base in the

Pescadores The Penghu ( , Hokkien POJ: ''Phîⁿ-ô͘'' or ''Phêⁿ-ô͘'' ) or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, about west of the main island of Taiwan across the Penghu Channel, cover ...

on 17 August, and was discovered that evening by . ''Redfish'' assembled , and for a

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

-assisted wolfpack attack in

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

conditions on the night of 18/19 August. ''Teiyō Maru'' was one of several ships torpedoed that night; and 41 crewmen and 58 passengers perished when she sank at .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teiyo Maru World War II naval ships of Japan Auxiliary ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy World War II tankers Ships of the Aleutian Islands campaign Ships sunk by American submarines 1931 ships Oilers