7062 JAPANESE AUXILIARY FOOD SUPPLY SHIP - SURUGA MARU 1943

The Suruga Maru was a Japanese transport ship, the keel of which was laid in January 1938 and launched in July of the same year. The total length of the vessel at the time of launching was 71.2 m, width 10.49 m, and displacement - 990 tons. The maximum speed was up to 13 knots. The Suruga Maru was originally constructed as a "refrigerated vessel" to work with the fishing trawlers for the Nippon Sunsai Line. The vessel was commandeered in August 1941 by the Imperial Japanese Navy and converted into a food transport by October of the same year. In the first month of the Pacific War (December 1941), the unit operated in the area of today's Vietnam and Taiwan, and in January 1942 it supported Japanese operations in the Malaya region. However, already in March of the same year, it operates in the Andaman region of the Indian Ocean. At the end of 1942, she was directed to the Truk base. The unit is sunk on February 15, 1943 by the American submarine USS Gato (SS-212).