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History
Name	Tenyo Maru
Owner	Toyo Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha (1935–1941) Imperial Japanese Navy (1941–1942)
Builder	Mitsubishi, Nagasaki
Laid down	3 July 1934
Launched	22 January 1935
In service	9 September 1941
Stricken	1 April 1942
Fate	Sunk by US carrier aircraft on 10 March 1942
General characteristics
Tonnage	6,843 GRT
Length	435 feet (133 m)
Beam	58.5 feet (17.8 m)
Draught	32.8 feet (10.0 m)

The Tenyo Maru was a 6,843-gross register ton passenger cargo ship built by Mitsubishi, Nagasaki for Toyo Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha in 1935. She was chartered to Mitsui and plied the New York route until she was requisitioned on 9 September 1941 by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II and converted at the Harima shipyard to a minelayer, which was completed on 31 October 1941.

Assigned to the Mine Division 19, of the Fourth Fleet, she landed troops at Makin Island. As part of the Rabaul invasion fleet, she carried air base construction materials.

Fate

On 10 March 1942, during the invasion of Lae-Salamaua, Tenyo Maru suffers two direct bomb hits from SBD's from the United States Navy aircraft carriers USS Lexington and USS Yorktown and breaks in two and sinks off Lae, New Guinea. Tenyo Maru was removed from the Navy List on 1 April 1942.

The bow of the ship was still visible above the water, at the end of the former Lae Airport in the 1970s.

Notes

1. "Lloyd's Register 1942-43" (PDF). plimsollshipdata. Retrieved 25 October 2011.

External links

• Chronological List of Japanese Merchant Vessel Losses
• http://combinedfleet.com/Tenyo_t.htm

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in March 1942
Shipwrecks	1 Mar: USS Edsall, HMS Encounter, HNLMS Evertsen, HMS Exeter, USS Houston, USS Pecos, HMAS Perth, USS Pope, Rooseboom, U-656 2 Mar: HNLMS Banckert, USAT Don Esteban, Ha-13, HNLMS K X, HNLMS K XIII, HNLMS K XVIII, HNLMS Koning der Nederlanden, USS Pillsbury, USS Stewart, Toendjoek, Van Waerwijck, HNLMS Witte de With 3 Mar: USS Asheville, Koolama, SS Mary, USS Perch 4 Mar: HMAS Yarra 5 Mar: Auby 6 Mar: HNLMS Pieter de Bitter, Rononia 7 Mar: Arabutan, HNLMS Gouden Leeuw, Nyggjaberg, Uniwaleco 8 Mar: HNLMS Eland Dubois, HNLMS Jan van Amstel, Smyshlyony 10 Mar: Lady Nelson, Kongō Maru, Tenyo Maru, Yokohama Maru 11 Mar: HMS Naiad 12 Mar: Texan 13 Mar: Tama Maru No. 2, Tolten 14 Mar: U-133 15 Mar: U-503, HMS Vortigern 17 Mar: Île de Batz, San Demetrio 18 Mar: E.M. Clark 19 Mar: Papoose 20 Mar: HMS Heythrop 21 Mar: Vamar 23 Mar: British Prudence 24 Mar: HMS Southwold, U-655 26 Mar: HMS Jaguar, HMS Legion, HMS P39 27 Mar: USS Atik, U-587, Equipoise 28 Mar: HMS Campbeltown, Raceland 29 Mar: Hertford, Z26 30 Mar: U-585 Unknown: Emilia, Panay
Other incidents	2 Mar: Ruth Kellogg, HMS Walney 4 Mar: USS Sargo, HMAS Tambar 5 Mar: Takao Maru 10 Mar: China Maru, Tama Maru No. 2 11 Mar: Komintern 15 Mar: Olean 16 Mar: Irish Willow, U-753 22 Mar: Kingston 23 Mar: USS Gato 25 Mar: Imperial Transport Unknown date: USS Drum
1941 1942 1943 February 1942 April 1942

• 1935 ships
• Minelayers of the Imperial Japanese Navy
• Ships sunk by US aircraft
• Shipwrecks of Papua New Guinea
• Maritime incidents in March 1942