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TONAN MARU 3 535’ (163m) 19,209-ton Tanker was built in 1938 for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In August, 1942 a US
as a whaling factory, but was converted into a tanker for war use. submarine torpedoed her, but the damage was minor enough for
She was the largest ship sunk in Truk Lagoon. Tonan Maru 3 was repairs. In July, 1943 she was torpedoed again, but was repaired
attacked several times in the years before, but mostly because in just five weeks. She met her final match on February 17, 1944
of eight defective torpedoes fired by the USS Tinosa, this prime when a Dauntless dive bomber from the USS Yorktown CV10 hit
target did not go down. American torpedo design had to be cor- her amidships, and then the next morning she was torpedoed by
rected because of this failure. However, the damaged ship was Grumman Avengers, which opened a huge hole into her engine
in Truk Lagoon being used as a refueling station when attacked room. At last she went down.
and finally sunk, with the loss of 315 lives. Oddly, in 1951, she
was refloated, fixed, towed back to Japan, and again became a JAPANESE CONVOY No. 4215 Japanese destroyers, MAIKAZE and
whaling factory. NOWAKE, Light Cruiser KATORI, and Armed Merchant Cruiser
AKAGI MARU attempted to convoy out of Truk Lagoon on the
YAMAGIRI MARU 439’ (134m) 6,438-ton passenger-cargo ship, morning of February 17, 1944. U.S. Aircraft strafed these ships
built in 1938, was en route to Palau in August 1943 and was just inside of North Pass, but were met with anti-aircraft fire. The
located by the submarine USS Drum, which fired two torpedoes. ships were again attacked northwest of the pass, with Katori be-
The ship was heavily damaged and was taken to Rabaul, New ing torpedoed and bombed, stopping dead in the water. Mai-
Guinea for repairs, and then to Truk. She would remain under kaze was also bombed and strafed, stopping her advance. Akagi
repair for two months until Operation Hailstone. On February Maru was bombed and sunk. Somehow, Nowake eluded the
18, 1944 she was struck by one 1,000-lb and one 500-lb bomb, by bombing and torpedoes, all while fiecely firing anti-aircraft guns.
Curtis Helldivers from USS Bunker Hill CV17, resulting in a huge Battleships USS NEW JERSEY & USS IOWA arrived and immedi-
explosion and fire. She sank rapidly. ately sunk the Maikaze & Katori, but the fighting, fleeing Nowake
drew away, even under fire by 16-inch guns. Nowake escaped.
SHINKOKU MARU 500’ (152m), 10,102-ton Naval Tanker was built
in 1940 and was one of eight tankers refueling the ships used
