Kyokuto Maru 1942, Underway Replenishment Oil Tanker 
by Dan Kaplan 
DK-KyokutoMaru1

1/700 Kyokuto Maru 1942, (Fujimi)

As nice as it is to have a commercially produced, styrene injected IJN tanker kit, these kits are laughably inaccurate for a Kawasaki Type tanker. This is particularly surprising for a Fujimi kit, given how Fujimi has striven to be the leader in highly detailed and accurate 1/700 IJN models over the last fifteen years. Sadly, these relative new kits harken back to some of their 1970s era waterline kits of dubious accuracy.  In general, many components are simplistically depicted, erroneous, or undersized. And, that's a generous evaluation. They are particularly erroneous in depicting the first two ships constructed, Toa Maru and Kyokuto Maru, as their bridges were located further aft then their subsequent sisters, as well as possessing far more curvature in their bridge facing.

This model required extensive research, rebuilding and scratch-building in order to make it reasonably accurate and detailed. Only the kit hull, decks and portions of the aft superstructure and funnel were retained, and these had to be stripped of all details, including hull plating and molded on piping. Built concurrently with another sister ship, the effort took more than two and a half years, aside from sanity breaks and other modeling projects.

I found it difficult to adequately capture the shapes, color and detail of the model in one photographic sitting, so photos from several different sessions were used. I've included a lot of views, given that there are a lot of details. Forgive me for any overkill. For good views of some of the components and details, please see the work-in-process thread.

Much gratitude and special thanks must be given to Motoyuki Iwashige of Japan, who was kind enough to supply me with much research information and answer my many questions over the years. He is, without a doubt, THE Japanese wartime merchant ship guru. Additional thanks go to Mike C. for his generous assistance, Ron Wolford for graciously supplying some hard to find photos, and to the late Lee Young, a fellow MW member who provided much support and objective critiques. Plus, all the online encouragement from the board members.

Ship's history

Kyokuto Maru was completed by Kawasaki Shipbuilding in late 1934 to a set of Imperial Japanese Navy specificiations for a large, fast oil tanker to be requisitioned for use by the IJN during wartime. She was chartered by Lino Lines and spent the prewar years transporting oil from North America to Japan.  She was refitted for underway replenishment (UNREP) immediately prior to the outbreak of war in the Pacific.

Kyokuto Maru was designated the flagship of the First Supply Group for the tanker unit that supported the Kido Butai during the attack on Pearl Harbor. She continued in that role, providing underway refueling of carrier groups, surface action groups and fleet units throughout 1942 and into early 1943. She then spent some time as a refueling depot ship at Truk on and off throughout 1943 as the tempo of large scale fleet operations temporarily abated.

By late 1943, she had joined in the general trend of all Japanese tankers traveling in convoy from the oil fields off Borneo and the Dutch East Indies to Japan and points within the empire. She was in convoy in  late February, 1944 off Mindinao when hit by two torpedoes from USS Hoe. Repaired temporarily at Davao, she completed her current mission and then proceeded to Singapore for repairs. Repairs continued until mid-June; as such, she missed participation as part of the Supply Group for the First Mobile Fleet at the Battle of the Phillipine Sea.

She continued to carry oil in convoy until September, 1944. She was in Manila Bay on September 21st when Task Force 38 staged a massive series of raids against Japanese shipping in the harbor. Hit twice and near missed many more times, she settled into shallow water. She was quickly raised and towed for further repair to a bay adjacent to  the Cavite Naval Base. She was further hit by bombs in more air attacks in October and November, eventually resinking in shallow water. The IJN fully intended to raise and repair her again, but the surrender of the Phillipines precluded that development.

She was raised again in 1948 and towed to Osaka, Japan, where she was repaired and reconstructed by Hitachi Zosen. When completed, her bridge more closely resembled the configuration carried by her later Kawaski sisters. She was then chartered by the company that originally chartered her, Iino Lines, and renamed California Maru. California Maru resumed transporting oil on a commercial basis, mostly between the Persian Gulf and Japan, with additional voyages to European and Mediterraneum waters. She remained in service until 1964, when she was finally broken up.  Hers was a long and eventful career.
 

Here's a list of the work and references:
 

Injected Parts

Fujimi 1/700 Kyokuto Maru kit, FineMolds searchlights and boat davits, Pit-Road gooseneck air intakes, Waterline Consortium Large Vessel Ordinance Set, Pit-Road Kamikawa Maru kit parts

Photoetch and Brass parts

Five Star 1/700 masts, Flyhawk anchors, chains, ladders, & triangular supports, life preservers, GMM Ultra Fine railings (both IJN and USN 4 bar), GMM boom cables, hatches, & accommodation ladders, Rainbow boat pulleys & access ladders
 

Corrections
 
 

Scratch-built References

 

Dan Kaplan

Gallery updated 5/23/2018

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