Nojima Maru
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | Nojima Maru | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | ship, shipwreck | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Sea / ocean | Solomon Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Papua New Guinea | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 97 km from land |
| Position | -7.2500, 148.5000 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
Nojima Maru, also known as Noshima Maru or Nozima Maru, was an 8,215-ton coal ship, also used as troop transport ship by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II.
Built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Kobe and launched in 1919, the Nojima Maru was part of the China Area Fleet in 1937, and operated off Shanghai in support of the fleet. On 27 December 1941, 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) southwest of Hong Kong, the Nojima Maru was torpedoed by USS Perch. The bow was blown off, but Nojima was saved by stranding herself in Hunghai Bay. It took one year to repair the ship.
On 1 March 1943, she left Rabaul, New Britain, as part of Operation 81, carrying 1,225 men of the IJA's 51st Division, the Navy's 3rd Air Defense Unit and 600 troops of the Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF) for Lae, New Guinea. The convoy was attacked by aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces and Royal Australian Air Force from 2 March 1943, known as the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. On 3 March Nojima Maru was damaged both by aircraft and a collision with Japanese destroyer Arashio. Later, Nojima Maru sank 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) southeast of Finschafen, New Guinea at 07°15′S 148°30′E.
Location
- Recorded position: -7.2500, 148.5000 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Solomon Sea
- Nearest coast: Papua New Guinea
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Nojima Maru (revision 1348285776), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- Japanese destroyer Arashio 1943 · 0 km
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Browse more: Oceania wrecks · wrecks off Papua New Guinea · Solomon Sea