In service 1939-1944 Type Troop transport Launched 1939 Tonnage 6.465 million kg | Out of service 1 March 1944 Beam 19 m Length 145 m Draft 12 m | |
Builder Mitsubishi Zosen Kaisha (Nagasaki) Fate Torpedoed and sunk 1 March 1944 | ||
Sakito Maru was a 7,126-ton Japanese troop transport during World War II, which sank on 1 March 1944 with great loss of life.
Sakito Maru was built in 1939 by the Mitsubishi Zosen Kaisha in Nagasaki for the Nippon Yusen shipping company.
On 29 February 1944, Sakito Maru was carrying the Japanese 18th Infantry Regiment. as part of convoy MATSU-01 which transported the 29th Infantry Division of the Kwantung Army from Manchuria to Guam. Matsu No. 1 consisted of four large transports escorted by three Yūgumo-class destroyers of Destroyer Division 31: Asashimo, Kishinami, and Okinami.
The convoy was attacked by the American submarine USS Trout about 625 miles east of Taiwan. The submarine badly damaged the large passenger-cargo Aki Maru and sank Sakito Maru. Sakito Maru was hit around 17:56 by two torpedoes and caught fire. She sank at 04:00 killing 2,358 soldiers, 65 ship's gunners and 52 crewmen of the 3,500 men on board. Also lost were several light tanks and most of the regiment's equipment.
Asashimo detected the submarine USS Trout and dropped 19 depth charges. Oil and debris came to the surface and the destroyer dropped a final depth charge on that spot, sinking the American submarine at the position 22°40′N 131°45′E.