IJN
Armed Merchant Transport

1943

Sinking History
Part of an eleven ship convoy sent to reinforce Japanese forces on Guadalcanal. All eleven ships were beached or sunk by USN and USMC aircraft attacking from Henderson Field. Beached near Bonegi River on November 15, 1942. Immediatly spotted, as it landed nearest to the American positions at Lunga Point (about 10 miles away). Coastal artillery shelled and got hits on these two ships before aircraft and the USS Meade sunk it. Also sunk was the Kinugawa Maru nearby.

Wreckage
Located to the east of Kinugawa Maru. It is turned on its side and may have been the one hit by the coastal artillery at Lunga Point. Lies with her mangled bow in shallow water, but her midships section is mainly intact. Her stern is covered with gun carriages and those parts merely ravaged by time rather than war.

Well broken up by enemy bombing, she is now covered in soft and hard coral growth. A deck gun is still recognisable. Penetration of this wreck is ill-advised because the deterioration of time combined with the ravages of war have left her quite unstable.

Jeff Johnson Reports:
"There's a lot of spent cartridges and broken glass about, but it looks as though the wreck was picked clean long ago by souvenir hunters. Today, it has badly deteriorated."

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