Pacific Wrecks Forum

S. E. Morison, in his book, Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, on page 56, gives a complete list of all Japanese combat and merchant ships involved in the Battle of the Bismarcks Sea in March of 1943. In addition, in the Handbook of Japanese Military Forces, September of 1944, see the Hyperwar website for the online manual, there is a cargo list compiled from captured Japanese records giving the loading of 7 of the 8 merchant ships. I believe that the picture first appeared in Impact magazine, a publication by the USAAF of aerial accomplishments during the war, but I need to check my copies for that. Based on the ship characteristics, that of a three-island freighter, of not too large a tonnage, I would tentatively identify it as the Aiyo Maru, of 2746 tons. The next closest ship, the Taimei Maru of 2883 tons had been damaged earlier, prior to the skip-bombing attacks, which this ship is clearly a target. I will do some more research to come up with a more accurate determination.

thanks for info:


Links http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Categ ... smarck_Sea

Link http://www.pacificwrecks.com/ships/maru/aiyo.html

ID as "TAIMEI MARU"
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TaimeiMaru.jpg