Pre-war image of Japanese fishing industry inspection ship Shunkotsu Maru
History
Empire of Japan
NameShunkotsu Maru
BuilderYokohama Ship Co., Ltd.
Laid down25 March 1928
Launched14 July 1928
Sponsored byJapanese Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (農林省)
Acquiredrequisitioned by Imperial Japanese Navy, 2 November 1941
Identification33965
Notes
General characteristics
Class and typeNaval trawler
Tonnage531.7 gross register tons[1]
Length47.2 m (154 ft 10 in) o/a[1]
Beam8.9 m (29 ft 2 in)[1]
Draught4.7 m (15 ft 5 in)[1]
Installed power1,500 bhp (1,119 kW)[2]
Speed13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)[2]

Shunkotsu Maru (Japanese: 俊鶻丸) was a Japanese deep sea trawler and survey/meteorological ship that was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II and served in varying roles as a patrol boat, transport ship, cargo ship, minesweeper, subchaser, and escort ship[3][4] and as an oceanographic research ship after the war.

History

Shunkotsu Maru was commissioned by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (農林省) and laid down on 25 March 1928 at the shipyard of Yokohama Ship Co., Ltd. (横濱船渠株式會社).[3] She was launched on 14 July 1928 and registered in Tokyo.[3] She worked primarily as a fishery enforcement and inspection ship in the Sea of Okhotsk and the North Pacific.[3] On 2 November 1941, she was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy and assigned to the Fifth Fleet and based in the Maizuru Naval District[3] as part of the 13th Minesweeper Division under Captain Toshio Mitsuka (along with Kaihō Maru and Hakuhō Maru).[5][6] The unit was part of the Kiska invasion force during the Aleutian Islands campaign.[5] She survived the war.[3] After the war, she served as a training ship for the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.[7] In 1952, she was returned to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries[7] where she served as an oceanographic inspection boat.[8] In May 1954, after the radioactive contamination of the crew of the Japanese fishing boat Daigo Fukuryū Maru, she was sent to the Bikini Atoll to measure radiation levels which showed that they were far higher than expected with all plankton and tuna within a 150 km (93 mi) radius significantly contaminated.[8][9] She was replaced by the Ministry in 1958.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Toda, Gengoro S. (21 September 2019). "俊鶻丸 (Shunkotsu Maru - Stats)". Imperial Japanese Navy - Tokusetsukansen (in Japanese).
  2. 1 2 ONI 208-J (Supplement no. 2) Far Eastern Small Craft. Division of Naval Intelligence. March 1945.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Toda, Gengoro S. (21 September 2019). "俊鶻丸の船歴 (Shunkotsu Maru - Ship History)". Imperial Japanese Navy - Tokusetsukansen (in Japanese).
  4. ↑ Toda, Gengoro S. (21 September 2019). "Other Naval Vessels > Kishokansokusen/Sokuryosen (Requisitioned Weather Observation Ships/Survey Ships) > Ippan Choyosen（Kishokansokusen/Sokuryosen)". Imperial Japanese Navy - Tokusetsukansen (in Japanese).
  5. 1 2 United States Strategic Bombing Survey (1946). The Campaigns of the Pacific War.
  6. ↑ Niehorster, Leo; Alsleben, Al; Yoda, Tadashi. "Aleutian Operations". Imperial Japanese Armed Forces.
  7. 1 2 "練習船年表 (Training Ship Chronology)". National Fisheries University (in Japanese). 俊鶻丸 (しゅんこつ) は農林省の漁業取締船（総トン数　531.71 ton）として、昭和3 (1928) 年9月に竣工　戦前にはカニ漁業の監視、取締りおよび南方海域の漁業調査などに従事していたが、戦時中軍に徴用され、主として北方海域での偵察、監視、護衛などの任務につき、またアッツ島への兵員輸送を行った事もある、昭和19 (1944) 年7月、現東京水産大学に移管するため徴用を解除され、昭和27 (1952) 年まで同大学の練習船として活躍しいている。本船は昭和27 (1952) 年3月31日で水産庁に返還されるのを期に翌4月1日正式に本所所属の練習船となった
  8. 1 2 "Third Radiation Exposure - The Lucky Dragon No. 5 and Hiroshima". Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. 30 June 2005.
  9. ↑ Okuaki, Satoru (1 September 2019). "How Japanese scientists confronted the U.S. and Japanese governments to reveal the effects of Bikini H-bomb tests". The Asia-Pacific Journal. 17 (17).
  10. ↑ "歴代練習船 耕洋丸、俊鶻丸". National Fisheries University (in Japanese).
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