NITTETSU MARU
N 06°02.707' E 115°57.734'
Owner: Nissan Kisen KK, Tokyo
Built in 1943 by Osaka IW, Innoshima
Yard No 1797 laid down as an ore carrier
Date of completion: February 1943
Gross Tons: 5993
Length: 120.7m
Beam: 16.4m
Type: 1K 1ST
Speed: 11 Knots
Fate: Sunk by USS Dace SS-247 on 14th October 1944 at N 06º-00', E 115º-55'
USS Dace SS-247 action report 13th - 14th October 1944
13 October 0937 sighted seven ship convoy with 2 escorting destroyers; due south from Balabac Island; sticking to shallow water along the coastline.
Dace at 50 fathom curve, cannot get closer than 16,000 yards. Convoy went by. Will have to chase tonight on surface.
Convoy consists of 3 large oilers, 4 large cargo ships with oilers at the rear
1830 rendezvoused with Darter, exchanged info, decided to chase convoy south inside of reefs.
Dace to attack from ahead, Darter from quarter.
Estimated to be in position at midnight for attacks
0015 14 October Tracking convoy to gain position, convoy's base course 220 degrees True, zigzagging, speed 7.5 knots. Land in background.
Ships 500 yards apart.
Location: 06-00N, 115-55E
0102 Attack #1A - commenced firing six tube salvo at center ship in starboard flank...large AP or AK, run 4,000 yards, 65 degree starboard track, small gyro angle, 8 second firing intervals, depth 6 feet, 1 degree divergent spread. Target group is overlapping with AO 500 yards abeam of the target, and other AK 500 yards abeam of AO
0103 completed firing bow tubes; shifted to leading group which consists of two large overlapping AK's. Swinging around stern to targets
0104 heard and saw torpedo #1 hit near target. Large cloud of steam and smoke persisted for several minutes
Heard and saw #2 hit middle target of group. Escorts commenced firing; no splashes noted
0105 Attack #1B - Commenced firing stern tubes
0107 Heard explosion in target group
0111 Explosion, timed to be #7 (stern tubes numbered from 7 thru 10)
0111 Explosion timed to be #8
0119 Very heavy explosion, possible boiler, in target group
Of the seven ships and three escorts the following was observed after the attack. One target group was tracked south into Kimanis Bay. Darter tracked this outfit, five larges ships and one escort. One cripple remained stopped at position of attack by two escorts. Appears to be a tanker. One ship noticeably absent.
Final box score: One large AK (EC) 7,500 tons sunk; one large AP or Ak (EC) 7,500 tons damaged: and one large AO (EC) 10,000 tons severely damaged and probably sinking. The EC classification is given from daylight observations. The AO crew was being taken off by escort destroyer. Leaving the rest of the group to Hammerhead and the boys down south.
0544 submerged southwest of Mantanani Island proceeding to station into Palawan Passage.
A post op report says Dace sunk Nittetsu Maru, 5,993 tons and Eikyo Maru 6,948 tons; heavy damaging Taizen Maru 5,396 tons.
Back to top of page
USUKAN BAY WRECKS
Wartime Standard Type 1K Cargo ship
Submarine Hammerhead (SS-364) sinks Japanese ore carriers Kokusei Maru and Hiyori Maru and cargo ship Hikane Maru north of Borneo, 06°30'N, 116°11'E.
The three ships that the Hammerhead sank on the 1st October 1944, were all wartime standard type 1K cargo ships, with the same length beam and gross tonnage, which makes these wrecks very hard to identify individually as they have been under the water for 65 years. To local divers these wrecks are known by the following names:
- Rice Bowl Wreck - N 06°28.155' E 116° 14.475'
- Usukan Wreck - N 06°27.670' E 116° 13.751'
- Upside-Down Wreck - coordinates not yet available.
HIKANE MARU (reported as HIGANE MARU)
Owner: Nippon Yusen K.K. Tokyo
Built in 1943 by Mitsubishi, Kobe
Yard No: 672
Date of completion: August 1943
Gross Tons: 5321
Length: 120.8m
Beam: 16.4
Type: Wartime Standard type 1K cargo ship
Speed: Cruising 10.5knots Top 13.5 Knots
HIYORI MARU
Owner: Nippon Yusen K.K. Tokyo
Built in 1943 by Mitsubishi, Kobe
Yard No: 674
Date of completion: October 1943
Gross Tons: 5321
Length: 120.8m
Beam: 16.4
Type: Wartime Standard type 1K cargo ship
Speed: Cruising 10.5 knots Top 13.5 Knots
KOKUSEI MARU
Owner: Osaka Shosen K.K. Osaka
Built in 1944 by Nippon Kokan, Tsurumi
Yard No: 471
Date of completion: January 1944
Gross Tons: 5396
Length: 121.7m
Beam: 16.4m
Type: Standard Wartime Type 1K cargo ship
Speed: Cruising 10.5knots. Top 13.5knots
Note: Was used a “Hell Ship” carrying 456 POW's from Singapore on 03/06/1944 arriving at Moji ,Japan on 21/06/1944
Back to top of page
NIPPO MARU
N 07°09.478' E 116°46.496'
N 07°09.462' E 116°46.488'
N 07°09.441' E 116°46.495'
Owner: Iino Kiaun K.K., Tokyo
Built in 1944 by Mitsubishi, Nagasaki
Yard No: 916
Date of completion: 05/03/1944
Gross Tons: 10536
Length: 154.2m
Beam: 20m
Type: Wartime Standard type 1TL Tanker, steam turbine
Speed: Cruising 16.5 Knots, Top 19 Knots
Fate: Sunk by United States Submarine USS Bergall SS-320 at 03.40hrs on 27/10/1944 reported position N 07º 09.5' E 116º 40.5'
USS Bergall SS-320 action report
Oct. 27, 1944 Patrolling on surface as above.
0248 (H) Radar contact, 4 ships at 21,000 yards. Commenced tracking.
0310 (H) Battle Stations. (SHIP CONTACT #17)
0325 (H) Closed to attack. Targets still unseen, course 240°T., speed 13 knots, range 10,000 yards.
P.P.I. showed two large ships roughly in column with one escort ahead and one astern of the
formation.
0328 (H) Range 8,000 yards began to see two large ships, looked like small carriers. Decided to set
depth 10 feet and to fire three at each ship. Remembered then that this pitometer log had been
acting up and that our speed solution might not be accurate so decided to fire six at the biggest one, spread to give four hits.
We had commenced our approach from a position 10,000 yards bearing 50° relative from the
leading target .He now changed course away to 205° forcing us to accept a large track.
At 5,000 yards picked up second ship in the T.B.T. Could not be sure whether ships were
small carriers or large tankers in ballast. Decided 10 foot depth setting safe in either case.
At 4,000 yards could make out superstructure forward and aft. Nothing amidships seen. Target
almost half filled field of glasses. Could see escort astern of target.
0336 (H) Commenced firing six torpedoes forward. Range 3,500 yards. Target half filled field.
43 seconds later fired sixth torpedo. Turned right with full rudder. Range now 3,000 yards; target
could be seen well enough to make out following points:
(b) He had a silhouette very similar to HYOKUYO MARU, (Page 293, ONI-208-J).
(c)The bridge, on the forward poop, and the superstructure and stack aft were made out by three
officers on the bridge. The small superstructure amidships was seen by two. No one saw any masts
and the stacks looked like one stubby stack because the angle on the bow was nearly 90°.
0339 12 First of four explosions seen and heard. We now had a target on our port quarter.
0339 20 Second explosion accompanied by a large sheet of flames.
0339 26 Third explosion seen and heard.
0339 33 Fourth explosion seen and heard Minor explosions could be heard between the torpedo
hits.
0341 (H) Escort astern of target turned towards us, his range was steady at 3,900 yards for a minute and then began to fall off.
0346 (H) Commenced reload forward.
0349 (H) Felt and heard first of 14 depth charges lasting until - 0418 (H).
0352 (H) Target pip began to disappear. The other three ships were still on the screen.
0359 (H) Target pip disappeared at 11,000 yards. It had dropped astern of the leading ship which
did not disappear from the screen until the range was 23,000 yards.
Did not chase leading ship because of the following -
(a) He was heading down between Sunken Barrier Shoals and the coast of Borneo through water in which we could not dive.
(b) Short time before daylight.
(c) We were not very sure of our position and very likely to run afoul of the Big Bonanza Shoal.
0430 (H) Sent contact report while heading west.
0542 (H) Sighted fleet type destroyer (SHIP CONTACT #18) through high periscope bearing
208°T.,distance to be 8 to10 miles, angle on the bow 90° Starboard. He was about in the spot from
which we had transmitted our contact report. Doubted very much that we could have reached him at all because of his large angle on the bow. If we went after him capital ships might be missed transiting Balabao. Decided also that he was pretty well alerted and that we would have a difficult job to reach him submerged; so at -
0544 (H) Submerged and headed for Balabao.
0946 (H) Heard three depth charges. Guess he pulled the usual Jap trick of dropping a few for good measure just before giving up the chase.
1430 (H) Sighted "Dave" type seaplane (PLANE CONTACT #12) coming up from scene of our
attack.
1536 (H) Surfaced.
After action report on SHIP CONTACTS # 17 & 18
17 0248(H) 27 Oct. 7° 09.5'N 116°40.5'E. 2 AO 2 DD 21,000 240°T.13 kts. Radar Sunk 1 AO
with 4 hits.
18 0542(H) 27 Oct. 7° 35' N.116°40'E. DD 20,000 270°T. speed unknown High Periscope.
Undoubtedly searching for us as a result of sinking in contact #17
The Wreck of the Nippo Maru Kudat
27 October, Fri Submarine Bergall (SS-320) attacks Japanese convoy and sinks oiler Nichiho Maru and fleet tanker Itsukushima Maru to the west of Balabac Strait, 07°09'N, 116°40'E.
Accounts of the sinking of the Nippo Maru (Nichiho Maru) by crew of Bergall SS-320:
The Bergall was sent to patrol the Strait of Balabac between Borneo and the Philippines, made no
contacts other than airplanes and patrol boats throughout the three day engagement, but had the
thrill of holding ring-side tickets, and on the following day sank the largest merchant ship it was to sink - a 17 thousand ton tanker (later listed as 10,528 tons). The attack was made on the surface at night and was consummated with dispatch. Donald Small was the radar operator that made the contact. "There was a lot of land clutter on the radar screen when two targets suddenly appeared.
I checked on the chart of the area to see if I had missed something before and there was nothing on the chart, so it had to be ships." The two contacts were so large that they were at first thought to be small carriers; the radar had contacted them at a great range. When they became visible they were found to be large oil tankers (AOs) accompanied by one large and one small escort. Four hits blew the second AO right out of the strait, and the counter-attack, depth charging excited no one but the Japanese. The Bergall cleared the area on surface. The large tanker turned out to be the Nippo Maru (10,528 tons) (sometimes recorded as the Nichiho Maru).
She went down off the north-east coast of Borneo at 7º-09'N, 116º-40'E.
The Bergall actually got BOTH tankers! It's just that one didn't sink outright, the second tanker,
Itsukushima Maru (10,007 tons), was left still hanging on, dead in the water, until sunk by a PBY
two days later... all part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Possible location for the Itsukushima is N 07º 02.874' E 116º 42.420'. both of these wrecks need exploring properly as there are only vague reports by a handful of divers who have dived them.
One wreck is in about 50m and is thought to be the Nippo Maru the other which should be the Itsukushima is in 38m. As can be seen by the three sets of co-ordinates for the Nippo Maru they are spaced roughly 160m apart which would indicate if the marks were taken fro bow to stern that this is approximately the length of the ship and a good indication to it's identity. However saying that more dives need to be done on these wrecks to verify their identities correctly.
Back to top of page
ITSUKUSHIMA MARU
N 07°02.874' E 116°42.420'
Owner: Nippon Suisan K.K. Tokyo
Built in 1937 by Kawasaki, Kobe, Japan.
Yard No: 614
Date of completion: December 1937
Gross Tons: 10,007
Length: 153.4m
Beam: 19.8
Type: Diesel Engined Tanker
Speed: 17 Knots
Fate: Torpedoed by USS Bergall SS-320 on 27/10/1944 , left dead in the water but did not sink . On 29 October 1944 is attacked and bombed by a lone Consolidated PB4Y (B-24)"Privateer" of VPB-115 and finally sinks 1 November 1944. A total of 41 crewmen are killed in the submarine and air attacks. Destroyer SHIGURE rescues survivors.
Back to top of page
NISSHIN MARU
N 07°19.25' E 116°50.62' wreck marked on Admiralty Chart #3728
Owner: Nishi Taiyo Gyogyo
Built in September 1936 by Kawasaki Shipyard, Kobe, Japan
Yard No: 598
Date of completion: September 1936
Gross Tons: 16764
Length: 163.8
Beam: 22.6
Type: Whaling Factory ship powered by single diesel engine, later converted to an oil tanker
Speed: 13 knots
Fate.: Torpedoed and sunk off Balambang Island N O7°.19, E116°.52on 6th.May 1944 by US submarine USS Crevalle
4/5/44 at 1030 departed Miri, Borneo en route to Manila. 6/5/44 at 0801 in position 07.19N 116.50E about 75km SSW of Cape Melville, Balabac Island, Philippines hit by two torpedoes aft. The ship rapidly filled and at 0810 sank. At the time carrying 291 passengers and 17000 tons heavy oil. 15 of the crew were killed.
Sunk by USS Crevalle. The wreck was recently found (pre 2003) resting on port side in the Balabac Straits.
Click to Englarge Nisshin Maru Plan
Excerpt from the Third War Patrol of USS Crevalle regarding sinking of the Nisshin Maru
Aside from that the hunting became slow. Walker and his company of men were pondering if all the big ones had migrated elsewhere because of their tenacity off Balembangan Island, when suddenly eight merchant ships and several destroyers were sighted on the morning of 6 May 1944. The convoy was tracked off Balembangan Island in about 150 feet of water when through the periscope the crew spotted the biggest tanker they had ever seen steaming down the pike. It was the eighth and last ship of the convoy. From Captain Walker's description it was determined that this tallied with intelligence reports of a two stack factory whale ship that the Japanese had converted into a super tanker . This mammoth ship would be their primary target.
CREVALLE'S crew went into action. Attempting to maneuver into a favorable attack position on the large ship their plans were being constantly changed because of the shallow water, numerous aggressively maneuvering escorts, air cover and glassy seas. As the situation cleared, four torpedoes were launched at the converted whale factory ship and two of the fish hit solidly amidships.
The torpedoes certainly did not miss their mark. The tanker was full of explosive vitality as a bottle of nitroglycerin. The force of the explosion almost flattened the men in the sub's conning tower. The jolt must have been felt in Brunei, some distance to the southward. Certainly it registered on the graph in oil headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. For, on 6 May 1944, crashing to the bottom of the South China Sea went NISSHIN MARU at 16,801 tons. CREVALLE had downed the largest oil tanker (and, incidentally, the third largest merchant vessel) sunk by submarines thus far in the Pacific War.
The escorting planes following along the torpedo tracts dropped two bombs and CREVALLE began evasive tactics although the water was only about 30 fathoms (180 feet) in depth. The counterattack by the Japanese escorts was vicious and continuous. It lasted for thirty minutes with numerous depth charges that caused a considerable amount of damage to valves and fittings. Even with the drain pump running at full bore emptying the boats bilge's she was taking on a lot of sea water. It was decided to bottom the submarine and she settled down at 174 feet on the ocean floor. All running machinery was secured, except for the lighting generator and low speed operation of the drain pump to keep ahead of the flooding. At about 10 o'clock it was discovered that the Japanese were successfully dragging grappling hooks down the side of the boat. CREVALLE got underway immediately and as stealthily as possible, pulled clear without the Japanese suspecting the movement of the submarine. The boat during this action endured a total of 61 near at hand exploding depth charges. A tired but undaunted crew initiated emergency repairs and the boat steamed ahead to its rendezvous with history.
Excerpt from the Third War Patrol of USS Crevalle regards sinking of other vessels along the coast of Borneo 04 Apr - 29 May 1944
Before Crevalle deployed on her third patrol a magnificent thing happened, an officer that was on the USS Puffer SS268 transferred on to the boat. He is Retired Captain Walter F. Mazzone. At the time he was a LT (jg) who had experienced one of the worst nightmares on board the Puffer as it was hounded by Japanese Patrol Boats and continuously depth charged and submerged for over 35 hrs. See the ordeal of the USS Puffer
In transit to Negros Island, CREVALLE was patrolling in the South China Sea, and her first contact was gained on the night of 15 April 1944. After tracking the target for some time, it was discovered that it was only a small Japanese patrol boat. It was thought to be prudent and avoid any action on this not worth sinking vessel. An attack would have given the patrol craft time to radio CREVALLE’S position to its big brothers and sisters who were undoubtedly close by. Avoiding action took place immediately.
While patrolling the approaches to Balabo Strait in the vicinity of Brunei on 25 April 1944, in waters off Northwest Borneo CREVALLE encountered a large freighter, with two small sea trucks (large boats) in a column astern of the larger vessel. There was also one small escort accompanying this miniature convoy that was hugging the coast. The seas were flat calm and the attack was held off until that enemy group had reached deeper water of 25 to 30 fathoms (150 to 180 feet). A full broadside of six torpedoes was unleashed from the bow tubes at the freighter and two of the fish solidly hit the ship. The freighter was observed to immediately break in two and rapidly sink as the smaller boats rushed for the shallow coastal water. The rest of the day was spent avoiding the escort and dodging search plains. The aircraft dropped several bombs, but none caused any damage, as they were well wide of their mark. Late that afternoon, a six-ship convoy plus several escorts were sighted entering Marudu Bay, Malaysia .
The following morning the enemy convoy began to sortie from the bay. Just as an attempt to close in on them was made a Japanese destroyer interfered with CREVALLE'S movements. A quick decision was formed to remove the destroyer as an obstacle but its erratic zigzagging maneuvers prevented the attainment of a good firing position. The attack on the destroyer was broken off. A two-day search for the convoy was hampered by the presence of enemy planes, which occasionally but ineffectively dropped bombs in CREVALLE'S vicinity.
On 3 may 1944, while patrolling submerged, an approach was attempted on a two-ship group that was traveling in a column. Although high speed submerged running was resorted to, the boat could not close the range and only a chancy long-range torpedo shot could be attempted. Accordingly it was decided to make an end around run on the surface at dark and attack from a radar submerged position out in front of the targets. Three targets were now picked up at the attack point as the ships approached. Although hampered by severe rain squalls the approach was initiated and salvos of four torpedoes were fired from the stern tubes at the vessels. The sound gear recorded two solid hits and one contact disappeared from the scope, but because of the driving rain nothing could be visually confirmed.
CREVALLE then surfaced and made a second end around on the convoy, during which a tremendous explosion was heard and one of the two remaining radar pips disappeared from the screen. As CREVALLE was still on the surface she approached the remaining target and fired four of her bow tubes. The first three torpedoes missed forward of the vessel and the fourth hooked to the right running erratically. Further attempts to down the target were thwarted by the vessel escaping to the shoal water close to the coast were a suspected mine field was thought to be located.
Late the next afternoon, a six-ship convoy with an air screen was sighted but it was probably alerted to the presence of a submarine because of the earlier action and it remained in the shoal water. CREVALLE made an unsuccessful attempt to contact it off Balembangan Island , North Borneo (today’s country of Sabah) but could not get close enough to warrant an attack.
All above reports taken from the USS Crevalle Fighting WWII United States Submarine www.usscrevalle.us
Back to top of page
KASHIWA MARU
N 06°59.42' E 116°50.40' wreck marked on Admiralty Chart #3728
"position approximate"
Owner: Marutatsu Kaiyu from 1937
Built in 1918 by Shindo T shipyard in Osaka, Japan. Originally named Mitsu maru No1 and owned by Watanabe Shoji
Date of completion: 1918
Gross Tons: 972
Length: 57.9m
Beam: 9.5m
Type: Cargo ship powered by a single triple expansion engine.
Speed: 10 Knots
Fate.: Torpedoed and sunk near west entrance of Marudu Bay on 25th April 1944 1944 by US submarine USS Crevalle SS-291
Kashiwa Maru (ex-Netlayer)
23/4/44 unloading Army troops at Puerto Princesa, Palawan Island, PI. 24/4/44 departed port for Labuan, Borneo leading 3 fishing boats. 25/4/44 at 1340 in position 07.10N 116.45E near W entrance to Marudu Bay, Borneo the ship was hit by two torpedoes on the starboard side in holds No’s 2 and 3 and blew up and sank. 2 Auxiliary Gunners and 16 of the crew were killed.