MV Tatsuta Maru

The Tatsuta Maru (龍田丸), also known as Tatuta Maru after 1938, was a Japanese ocean liner owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha. The ship was built in 1927-1930 by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Nagasaki, Japan.

The Tatsuta Maru was built for the trans-Pacific Orient-California fortnightly service. Principal ports-of-call included Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kobe, Yokohama, Honolulu, Los Angeles & San Francisco.

The vessel was created as a twin of the Asama Maru; and both ships were named after important Shinto shrines.

History
The shipyard number of the first passenger liner built by NYK was 450 (Asama Maru) and 451 was the yard number of her sister ship, the Tatsuta Maru. Both vessels were built by Mitsubishi at Nagasaki on the southern island of Kyushu. The Tatsuta Maru was launched on April 12, 1929. She undertook her maiden voyage on March 15, 1930, sailing from Yokohama to San Francisco.

The 16,975-ton vessel had a length of 583 feet (178 m), and her beam was 71 feet (22 m). The ship had 4 diesel motors, quadruple screws and an average speed of 21-knots. The Asama Maru was the second Japanese passenger liner to be propelled by diesel engines.

Pacific War
In December 1941 the liner was part of an elaborate Japanese deception plan to mask the unannounced attack on the US Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor. She sailed from Yokohama on 2 December bound for San Francisco with the task of exchanging American evacuees from the Orient for Japanese nationals in the United States. She was scheduled to reach the US on 14 December and despite rumours of war the American press wrongly concluded that meant nothing was likely to happen for some time.

In fact the master of the ship had sealed orders to turn around at midnight on 7 December and return to Japan maintaining radio silence.

Subsequently, the Tatsuta Maru was requisitioned as a troopship for the Imperial Japanese Navy.

On February 8, 1943, Tatsuta Maru was torpedoed and sunk by an enemy submarine (USS Tarpon) 42 miles east of Mikurajima. Some 1,400 Japanese soldiers on board were killed.