The was a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese cargo ship

Cargo ship

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...

 owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha

Nippon Yusen

Japan-based or NYK Line, is one of the largest shipping companies in the world. It is a core Mitsubishi company. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo.-1870-1900:...

. The ship was built in 1941 by Hakodate Dock at Hakodate

Hakodate, Hokkaido

is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture.Hakodate was Japan's first city whose port was opened to foreign trade in 1854 as a result of Convention of Kanagawa, and used to be the most important port in northern Japan...

 on the northern island of Hokkaidō.

History

The Yoshida Maru was built at Hakodate; and she left port in August 1941 on her maiden voyage.

The 2,921-ton vessel had a length of 310 feet (93 m), and her beam was 45 feet (13.8 m). The single turbine, single screw propulsion produced an average speed of 11 knots (21.6 km/h).

Pacific War

Yoshida Maru was requisitioned as a transport ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

.

In April 1944, she departed Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 as part of the Take Ichi convoy

Take Ichi convoy

The convoy was a Japanese convoy of World War II. The convoy left Shanghai on 17 April 1944, carrying two infantry divisions to reinforce Japan's defensive positions in the Philippines and western New Guinea. United States Navy submarines attacked the convoy on 26 April and 6 May, sinking four...

 carrying a full Japanese

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

 regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

 of the 32nd Infantry Division. On April 26, 1944 she was spotted and sunk by the submarine USS Jack

USS Jack (SS-259)

, a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the jack ....

. There were no survivors from the 2,586 solders, 81 ship's crew, and 2 armed guards aboard at the time of sinking.