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Nojima Maru


notinfringed
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This post may be pushing the rules for this forum a little bit, and if it crosses the line, feel free to remove it.

The Nojima Maru (AKA Nozima Maru, Nozama Maru) was a Japanese transport ship that was taken out by US Aircraft while delivering troops and supplies to Kiska Island. The following quote comes from the webpage found here:

 

http://www.combinedfleet.com/NojimaM_t.htm

 

"21 August 1942:

At 1315, departs Kataoka Wan for Kiska Island (renamed Narukami-Jima by the Japanese after its capture), Aleutians, apparently alone.

25 August 1942:

At 0845, arrives at Kiska harbor.

E August-September 1942:

Troops disembark. Begins to unload ammunition and supplies.

15 September 1942:

At noontime, according to schedule, albeit slowly, unloading is completed. NOJIMA MARU prepares to depart on the following evening.

16 September 1942:

At 0437, NOJIMA MARUsustains a large air attack from American aircraft. Near-misses on her central port side hole the ship and flood her engine room, rending it unusable. All power is lost. One minute later, she suffers a direct hit amidships by a dud bomb. At 0442, NOJIMA MARU is machine-gunned and Captain (Rear Admiral posthumously) Itagaki Koichi is KIA. Emergency repairs and pumping begin, and together with patching holes, prevent the ship from sinking. At 0454, however, another air attack occurs and a hit opens a larger hole.

1 October 1942:

Sustains another aerial bombing from American aircraft. Receives a direct hit on her starboard side.

E October 1942:

NOJIMA MARU is towed by auxiliary gunboat FUKUEI MARU No. 10 from Kiska harbor to Trout Lagoons anchoring shoal and run aground to prevent sinking.

13 October 1942:

Deemed damaged beyond repair, NOJIMA MARU is abandoned by her crew.

16 October 1942:

Bombed again by American aircraft, but the bombs are duds.

17 October 1942:

Another raid by B-24s is inconclusive due to poor weather conditions.

20 April 1943:

Another bombing sets NOJIMA MARU afire. Engulfed in flames, she is deemed a constructive total loss. The wreck remains exposed along the shoreline in situ until 1956."

 

Apparently, the stern of the ship was re-floated by a salvage company in 1956, but it sank enroute to the salvage yard in Japan. The bow section still sits in a harbor off of Kiska Island. Anyway, here are some pictures of her as she sat in 1943 or 1944:

post-2011-0-91374500-1422042491.jpg

post-2011-0-75504500-1422042506.jpg

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These photos are from an album belonging to a GI stationed on Adak prior to the retaking of Kiska, and on Kiska thereafter. In the distance shot, the equipment in the foreground (crane, etc.) is American. In the low tide shot GIs can be seen walking up to the ship.

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