Tonan Maru No. 3
{{Short description|Japanese whale oil factory ship (1938–1971)}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
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|infobox caption= |display title= ital }} {{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Tonan Maru no. 3 (1938) 1939-11-21.jpg |Ship image size= |Ship caption=Pictured on 21 November 1939, with her national markings painted prominently on the side to denote her status as a neutral vessel }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship name=*Tonan Maru No. 3 |Ship owner=Nippon Suisan |Ship operator= |Ship registry={{flagicon|Empire of Japan}} Tokyo, Japan |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Osaka Iron Works |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= 1 May 1938 |Ship completed= |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship identification= |Ship fate=Scrapped in April 1971 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type=
|Ship tonnage={{GRT|19,625}} |Ship displacement= |Ship length={{convert|534.8|ft|m}} |Ship beam={{convert|74.9|ft|m}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|36.25|ft|m}} |Ship depth={{convert|56.8|ft|m}} |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship sail plan= |Ship power=Two oil-fired reciprocal steam engines |Ship propulsion=Two screw propellers |Ship speed={{convert|14.12|kn|km/h}} (maximum), {{convert|12|kn|km/h}} (service) |Ship capacity= |Ship crew= |Ship notes= }} |
Tonan Maru No. 3 (Japanese: 第三図南丸, Dai-san Tonanmaru), from 1951 simply the Tonan Maru, was a Japanese whale oil factory ship. Built at Osaka in 1938 she was the largest merchant ship built in Japan to that point. She carried out whaling in the South Atlantic and in 1941 was blacklisted by the British government, believed to be because she was suspected of refuelling German vessels in the Pacific during the Second World War. Following the Japanese entry into the war Tonan Maru No. 3 was operated as an oil tanker in support of military operations. She survived 11 torpedo hits from USS Tinosa in 1943 as most failed to detonate. Tonan Maru No. 3 was sunk in Chuuk Lagoon by carrier-based aircraft in the 17 February 1944 Operation Hailstone. She was salvaged by Japan after the war, rebuilt and returned to service as the Tonan Maru in 1951. She returned to whaling and was scrapped in 1971.
Construction and pre-war career
File:Tonan Maru No.3 launch.jpg
Tonan Maru No. 3 was built at Osaka by the Ōsaka Iron Works for Nippon Suisan and was launched on 1 May 1938. She measured {{convert|534.8|ft}} in length, {{convert|74.9|ft}} in breadth, {{convert|56.8|ft}} in depth and {{convert|36.25|ft}} draught. She was of 19,625 gross register tonnage. She was fitted with two oil-fired reciprocal steam engines, driving two screws, and had a nominal horse power of 500.{{cite book |last1=Lindemann |first1=Klaus |title=Hailstorm Over Truk Lagoon, Second Edition: Operations Against Truk by Carrier Task Force 58, 17 and 18 February 1944, and the Shipwrecks of World War II |date=1 September 2005 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-59752-347-9 |page=257 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AG9LAwAAQBAJ}}{{cite book |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1938 Steamers |date=1 January 1938 |publisher=Lloyd's Register |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6GBjEAAAQBAJ}} Tonan Maru No. 3{{'}}s maximum speed was {{convert|14.12|kn}} and her in service speed was {{convert|12|kn}}. She was the largest merchant vessel built in Japan up to that point, though her sister ship Tonan Maru No. 2 exceeded her in tonnage later in her career.{{cite news |title=Japanese Whaler |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115832726/japanese-whaler/ |work=The Age |date=29 May 1937 |page=26}}{{cite book |last1=Carrell |first1=Toni |title=Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment of Micronesia |date=1991 |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Southwest Region, Southwest Cultural Resources Center, Submerged Cultural Resources Unit |page=238 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1UXOa5wVxsEC}} To accompany Tonan Maru No. 3 nine whale catching vessels were built alongside her.{{cite book |last1=Ishibashi |first1=Tanzan |title=The Oriental Economist |date=1938 |publisher=Oriental Economist |page=175 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQUjAQAAMAAJ}}
Tonan Maru No. 3 entered service as a whale oil factory ship on 23 September 1938. She was registered at Tokyo and sailed under the Japanese civil ensign. She operated alongside Tonan Maru No. 2 in the Southern Atlantic during the 1938-39 whaling season as a mothership to the fleet.{{cite book |title=Fishery Leaflet |date=1950 |publisher=U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-fUAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} The Tonan Maru No. 3 and her attendant catching vessels caught 1,400 whales that season.{{cite book |title=The Japan Times Weekly |date=1939 |publisher=Japan Times & Mail |page=247 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xq2f8WOyR44C |language=en}}{{cite book |title=The Far-Eastern Review: Engineering, Commerce, Finance |date=1940 |publisher=G.B. Rea |page=224 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-getEbBaFiIC |language=en}}{{cite book |title=Bulletin of the South Sea Association |date=1939 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbFLAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}
Second World War
File:Tonan Maru no. 3 (1938).jpg
Japan did not enter the Second World War until December 1941, with its attack on Pearl Harbor. Despite this the British government placed Tonan Maru No. 3 on a blacklist of ships liable to "all disabilities in their power" in May 1941. The meaning of this phrase was not specified but was taken by the contemporary press to mean she was liable to seizure and would be deprived of British shipping insurance, harbour space and refuelling. No reasons were given but it was thought that the British suspected the vessel, and other Japanese tankers, of refuelling German vessels in the Pacific and feared their powerful radios could be used to report on British naval movements.{{cite news |title=England Puts Japan's Ships on Blacklist |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115833074/england-puts-japans-ships-on-blacklist/ |work=The Austin American |date=23 May 1941 |page=1}}{{cite news |title=Britain Warns Japan Tankers Blacklisted |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115833187/britain-warns-japan-tankers-blacklisted/ |work=The Vancouver Sun |date=23 May 1941 |page=1}} At the time of the blacklisting the Tonan Maru No. 3, one of the largest tanker ships and largest merchant vessels in the world, was en route to Los Angeles. She continued on and loaded {{convert|150000|impbbl}} of American oil for transport to Japan.{{cite news |title=Jap Tankers Put on Britain's Black List; Seizure Indicated |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115833359/jap-tankers-put-on-britains-black/ |work=Corpus Christi Caller-Times |date=23 May 1941 |page=5}}{{cite news |title=British Warn Nippon Ships |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115833558/british-warn-nippon-ships/ |work=Long Beach Press-Telegram |date=25 May 1941 |page=3}}{{cite news |title=4 Nippon Tankers Loading Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115833627/4-nippon-tankers-loading-here/ |work=News-Pilot |date=10 July 1941 |page=6}}
After the Japanese declaration of war the Tonan Maru No. 3 operated as a tanker in support of Japanese military operations; in this role her gross register tonnage was assessed at 19,209. She was possibly damaged by Dutch submarine {{HNLMS|K XIV||2}} in the Java Sea on 23 December 1941.{{cite book |last1=Cox |first1=Jeffrey |title=Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II |date=17 November 2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1-4728-1060-1 |page=142 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAF2DwAAQBAJ |language=en}}
On 24 July 1943 she was sighted at a distance of {{convert|35000|yd|km nmi}} by Lieutenant Commander Lawrence R. Daspit's submarine {{USS|Tinosa|SS-283|6}}, making {{convert|13|kn}} and without an escort to the west of Chuuk Lagoon.{{cite book |last1=Holmes |first1=Wilfred Jay |title=Undersea Victory: The Influence of Submarine Operations on the War in the Pacific |date=1966 |publisher=Doubleday |page=241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oeZmAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} Daspit closed to {{convert|4000|yd|km nmi}} and fired four torpedoes, two of which struck Tonan Maru No. 3{{'}}s stern and exploded. The vessel was stopped dead in the water and Daspit closed to what he considered an ideal range and position, {{convert|875|yd|m nmi}} directly abeam of the tanker. Daspit launched three consecutive torpedoes from this position which all hit but failed to explode. He then ordered the remaining torpedoes inspected and his crew could find no fault with them. Daspit fired a further six torpedoes which all hit but failed to explode. He returned to port with his final torpedo, intending to have it inspected by engineers at the dockyard. The Tonan Maru No. 3 remained afloat and was salvaged and returned to service with the assistance of Japanese vessels operating from Chuuk.{{cite book |last1=Beatty |first1=Millard F. |title=Principles of Engineering Mechanics: Volume 2 Dynamics -- The Analysis of Motion |date=30 November 2005 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-387-23704-6 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k4GgsitYDt4C |language=en}} The US Navy discovered, through further tests, that the firing pins on their Mark 14 torpedoes failed to detonate when launched from a direct abeam position. New contact detonators were devised as a result of the incident.{{cite book |last1=Beatty |first1=Millard F. |title=Principles of Engineering Mechanics: Volume 2 Dynamics -- The Analysis of Motion |date=30 November 2005 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-387-23704-6 |pages=66–67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k4GgsitYDt4C |language=en}}
Tonan Maru No. 3 was sunk by US carrier-based aircraft on 17 February 1944 whilst positioned at {{coord|7|23|N|151|51|E}} in the Chuuk Lagoon.{{cite book |last1=Committee |first1=United States Joint Army-Navy Assessment |title=Japanese Naval and Merchant Shipping Losses During World War II by All Causes |date=1947 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-598-73567-6 |page=54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7csGPumLZbwC |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Veronico |first1=Nicholas A. |title=Hidden Warships: Find World War II's Abandoned, Sunk, and Preserved Warships |date=7 July 2015 |publisher=Quarto Publishing Group USA |isbn=978-1-62788-664-2 |page=128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7AwxCgAAQBAJ |language=en}} She was one of 30 Japanese ships sunk in Operation Hailstone, a raid of Chuuk by aircraft from the USS Bunker Hill, Enterprise, Essex, Intrepid and Yorktown.{{cite book |last1=Polmar |first1=Norman |title=Aircraft Carriers: A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events, Volume I: 1909-1945 |date=1 September 2006 |publisher=Potomac Books, Inc. |isbn=978-1-59797-344-1 |page=371 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buiaej5-nPUC |language=en}}
Salvage and later career
Japan sought and received special permission to raise Tonan Maru No. 3 after the war as she was extremely valuable to the whaling fleet. She was refloated by a large number of lifting buoys on 3 March 1951 and towed to Japan. She was rebuilt over a period of six months and put back into service as a whale oil factory ship, re-entering service on 8 October 1951 under the name Tonan Maru.{{cite book |last1=Heal |first1=Syd C. |title=Ugly Ducklings: Japan's WWII Liberty Type Standard Ship |date=2003 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-59114-888-3 |page=112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dgJnAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} She served in the whaling fleet until 1968, becoming the longest-serving Japanese factory ship.{{cite book |last1=Starkey |first1=David J. |last2=Harlaftis |first2=Gelina |title=Global Markets: The Internationalization of the Sea Transport Industries since 1850 |date=18 October 2017 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-78694-919-6 |page=275 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AnZvEAAAQBAJ |language=en}} Tonan Maru was scrapped in April 1971. Her aft portion and funnel, which had been blown off during the attack, were located in the lagoon, at a depth of {{convert|110|ft}}, on 5 January 1981.
References
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{{February 1944 shipwrecks}}