Japanese aircraft carrier Kumano Maru

Class overview
Operators: Imperial Japanese Army
Preceded by: Yamashio Maru class
Succeeded by: None
Built: 19441945
In commission: 1945
Planned: 1
Completed: 1
Scrapped: 1
History
Empire of Japan
Name: Kumano Maru
Builder: Hitachi Shipbuilding, Innoshima
Laid down: 15 August 1944
Launched: 28 January 1945
Completed: 31 March 1945
In service: 19451947
Captured: 15 August 1945
Fate: Scrapped, 1948
General characteristics
Type: Landing ship/aviation ship
Displacement: 8,258 tonnes (8,128 long tons)
Length: 152.7 m (501 ft 0 in)
Beam: 19.58 m (64.2 ft)
Draught: 7 m (23 ft 0 in) (mean)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
Speed: 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Range: 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) @ 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Armament:
  • 8 × 75 mm (3 in) AA guns
  • 6 × 25 mm (1 in) AA guns
Aircraft carried: 8 to 37
Aviation facilities: takeoff-only flight deck

Kumano Maru (熊野丸) was a landing craft carrier with a small flight deck built for the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Launched and completed in early 1945, the ship saw no significant action.

Construction

Kumano Maru was laid down at the Hitachi Shipbuilding yard at Innoshima as a standard Type M wartime cargo ship. The ship was taken over by the Army during construction, redesigned as a landing craft transport, and designated a Type B landing ship. It could carry up to a dozen 17.1-metre (56 ft) and thirteen 14.0-metre (46 ft) landing craft in its hold. They were launched on rails through two large doors in the stern.[1]

The ship was also designed to transport anywhere from 8 to 37 aircraft, depending on their size and the number of landing craft aboard. A 110.0 by 21.3 metres (361 by 70 ft) flight deck was mounted above the main deck with an elevator aft. This permitted the stored aircraft to be flown off the ship to onshore airfields. The deck was not large enough to allow aircraft to land. The ship's funnel was mounted on the starboard side and vented horizontally outward to keep the flight deck clear.[1]

Operational history

Kumano Maru in 1947 at Kawasaki Heavy Industries

Kumano Maru was launched 28 January 1945 and completed on 31 March. She survived the war, and was used until 1947 to repatriate Japanese forces abroad. The ship was sold to Kawasaki Kisen K. K. Line in 1947 and converted to a conventional merchant ship. Afterward, she was scrapped in 1948.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Gardiner, p. 214

Bibliography


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