Aikoku Maru
Aikoku Maru in Singapore in 1942
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| History | |
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 Empire of Japan
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| Name: | Aikoku Maru |
| Ordered: | 1937 fiscal year |
| Builder: | Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Tamano, Okayama, Japan |
| Laid down: | 29 December 1938 |
| Launched: | 25 April 1940 |
| Completed: | 31 August 1941 |
| Struck: | 31 March 1944 |
| Fate: | Sunk by air attack, 16 February 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Armed merchant cruiser |
| Displacement: | 10,437 long tons (10,604 t) |
| Length: | 160.8 m (527 ft 7 in) w/l |
| Beam: | 20.2 m (66 ft 3 in) |
| Draught: | 8.8 m (28 ft 10 in) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 20.9 knots (24.1 mph; 38.7 km/h) |
| Range: | unknown |
| Complement: | 133 |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 1 × Kawanishi E7K floatplane |
Aikoku Maru (愛国丸?) was an armed merchant cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II. The ship entered service in 1940, the ship was later converted to an ammunition ship. She was destroyed in February 1944.
Aikoku Maru was laid down at the Mitsui Tamano shipyards in Okayama Prefecture on 29 December 1938. She was designed to be a combined passenger liner / cargo vessel for the Osaka Shosen Lines's regularly scheduled services to South America. Provisionally named Kyoto, the design for the new vessel was to have boasted of luxurious suite rooms. The vessel was built with large government subsidies provided from 1936 to encourage the production of large, high-speed transports and tankers, which could be quickly converted to military use in times of conflict. The vessel was launched on 25 April 1940, and was named Aikoku Maru at that time.
Although ostensibly a luxury ocean liner, the military had a say in the design of Aikoku Maru with an eye towards its future use as a troop transport. Provision was made for landing craft and for the anchoring of naval artillery. Overall, the vessel was 10,437 long tons (10,604 t) in displacement, with a length of 160.8 m (527 ft 7 in). Powered by two Mitsui B&W diesel engines with 13,000 shp (9,700 kW) driving twin screws, she was capable of 20.9 knots (24.1 mph; 38.7 km/h).
Immediately on completion on 31 August 1941, Aikoku Maru was officially requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was converted into an armed merchant cruiser from 5 September while still at Tamano, with the installation of four 15 cm/50 41st Year Type guns, two QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns, two Type 93 13.2-mm machine guns and two quad-mount 533-mm torpedo tubes. She was also fitted with powerful searchlights and boom for handling a Kawanishi E7K float plane (with one additional aircraft as a spare).
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