Name Nankai Maru Depth 40.7 ft (12.4 m) Length 136 m | Beam 60.5 ft (18.4 m) Launched 1933 | |
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Identification Official number 38116
Code Letters JKME Fate Sunk by torpedo on 12 September 1944 Tonnage 8416 tons (gross), 5105 tons (net) | ||
The MV Nankai Maru was an 8,416-gross register ton (GRT) freighter built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd, Nagasaki, Japan, in 1933 for Osaka Shosen Kaisha.
She was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy as a transport in late 1941. She participated in the invasion fleets at Midway, Milne Bay (where she was damaged by a bomb), Guadacanal (where she was also damaged by a bomb). She was struck by a dud torpedo from USS Kingfish on 8 December 1942 near Okinotorishima. On 25 December 1943, she was damaged by a torpedo from USS Seadragon near Cape St. George, New Ireland and later collided with the destroyer Uzuki. She was sunk by a torpedo from USS Sealion while travelling from Singapore on 12 September 1944 in the South China Sea east of Hainan Island at 18°42'N, 114°30'E.