JAPANESE PASSENGER LINER KASUGA-MARU

Kasuga Maru is a Japanese passenger ship from World War II. The keel for this unit was laid in January 1940, and the launch took place in September of the same year. The full displacement of the ship at the time of launching was approximately 20,300 tons, length - 180.2 m, and width 22.5 meters. The maximum speed was around 25 knots. Kasuga Maru was commissioned by the Nippon Yusen shipping lines, and its construction took place at a shipyard in Nagasaki, owned by Mitsubishi. The vessel was one of the three Nitta Maru ships, which were to carry out passenger transport mainly on routes leading to Europe and - to a lesser extent - to the United States. At the same time, however, ships of this type were built in such a way that they could be converted into light aircraft carriers as easily and as quickly as possible. For this reason, their construction was co-financed by the Japanese Navy. The latter reason meant that as early as 1941 Kasuga Maru found its way to the Navy, where it was rebuilt into the Taiyo aircraft carrier.