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Texas
History
Japan
Name
Goshū Maru
Builder
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kōbe
Laid down
27 December 1938
Launched
14 October 1939
Completed
27 February 1940
Commissioned
requisitioned 14 September 1940
In service
27 February 1940
Out of service
31 March 1944
Stricken
21 April 1944
Fate
Sunk 30 or 31 March 1944
General characteristics
Displacement
8,592 tons standard
Length
443.2 feet
Beam
60 feet
Draft
40 feet
Propulsion
2 steam turbines
Armament
4.7-inch guns
Goshū Maru was requisitioned as an aircraft transport vessel of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The ship was initially built at Kawasaki's Kōbe Shipyard and launched on 14 October 1939 as a merchant vessel for Goyo Shosen K. K.[1] On 14 September 1940 the IJN requisitioned as a transport ship and was refitted in 1940 as an aircraft transport. The ship subsequently saw service in the Pacific Campaign of World War II. 1 October, 1943 she was rerated a converted transport (misc). Goshū Maru was sunk by United States Navy aircraft in the Palau Islands on 30 or 31 March 1944.