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| IJA Cargo 6,494 Tons |
Ship History Built by Kawaminami Kogyo K.K. at Koyagishima. Laid down 1941 as 6,494 Ton standard type 1A cargo ship for Toyo Kaiun. K. K. (Oriental Marine Transport) of Tokyo. Sinking History On March 3, 1943 during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea sunk by air attack roughly thirty miles southeast of Finschafen. While the ship was on fire, spotted by three groups of PT Boats patrolling in the area, and attacked by all three independently. The first group: PT-143 and PT-150 spotted a fire at 23:10 and found this vessel dead in the water with a large fire burning in the forward cargo hold and a small fire aft, and seemed to be abandoned. From 800 yards, PT-143 fired a torpedo that impacted the stern and caused it list to the port and settle into the sea. Five minutes later, PT-150 fired a second torpedo from 700 yards that hit midship and caused it to begin sinking stern first and burning brightly. The second group: PT-68, PT-149, PT-66 and PT-121 approached the fire of the sinking Oigawa Maru at slow speed which was on fire and appeared to be abandoned. PT-149 believed it observe a search light on the ship and fired one torpedo at the ship before it lost sight of the target and the ship sank. The third group: PT-67 and PT-128 spotted the ship on fire and approached. PT-128 fired two torpedoes from 1,500 yards that missed, but saw an explosion thought they hit the target. The explosions was in fact caused by the torpedoes fired by PT-143 and PT-150. References Note, some sources spell the ship Oikawa Maru [sic]. Another ship Oigawa Maru (575 Tons) is not this vessel. At Close Quarters PT Boats in the United States Navy page 180-181 Contribute
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