Mystery Photograph

[William Lafferty]

I believe the vessel in the foreground is the Japanese whale factory vessel Nisshin Maru. The other may be her near sister, Nisshin Maru No. 2. Both were converted to tankers and regularly carried American oil from California to Japan until the American government halted commerce between the two nations in July 1941. On 26 July 1941 the Nisshin Maru was the last Japanese vessel to clear an American port, hauling 90,000 barrels of oil to Japan from San Pedro (where Todd's plant was then located).

[Wawatam]

...I'm having trouble finding examples with twin stacks such as those fitted to the ship on the right.

I found an example of what appears to be a Type "D" variant named the Hyogo Maru that exhibits the same twin stacks-aft design as the ship in your photo.



Also, here is the link to the 1945 O.N.I. publication "Standard Classes of Japanese Merchant Ships" that may be useful in your research. Good luck.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref ... -JSup3.pdf

[Guest]

Further research of this photograph has revealed it was taken in May of 1941. Although relations between the United States and Japan were deteriorating rapidly during the first half of 1941, the US did not freeze Japanese assets until late July of that year. Therefore, it is possible that these ships were at Los Angeles undergoing some sort of repairs or refit at the time the picture was taken. If these ships were still in the United States at the time Japanese assets were frozen, they could have been seized, although I can find no mention of such and occurrence on the internet. In looking at some of the documentation concerning Japanese merchant ships of that timeframe, I'm having trouble finding examples with twin stacks such as those fitted to the ship on the right.

[Wawatam]

According to the “Standard Classes of Japanese Merchant Ships”
0NI 208-J (Revised) Supplement 3,
Office of Naval Intelligence. January 1945
(Declassified by IAW DOD memo of 03MAY1972)

The ships in the photo could be a Type “D” Japanese Merchant ship (AMAKASU MARU NO. 1 class.) Characteristic features were: “…engines-aft design with the bridge well forward, masts at forecastle and ,and kingposts on the bridge..”
These features mimicked the traditional Great Lakes bulk freighter configuration. Pilothouse forward, cabins fore and aft.

What doesn’t make sense is that Japanese flagged merchants were at the Todd Shipyards Los Angeles Harbor facility during 1941. Even though hostilities didn’t break out until after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, it would seem that the presence of (2) Japanese vessels there any time during 1941 would have been met with alarm and suspicion.

[Guest]

I came across the attached image taken at the Todd Shipyards in Los Angeles during 1941. It shows two Japanese freighters in the yard. Of these, the bow of the one on the left is visible while only the stern of the one to the right is visible in the photograph. From looking at this, I would say they appear to have the general configuration of the traditional bulk freighters on the Great Lakes, with the pilothouse forward and cabins both fore and aft. The photo is in very poor condition and no names are readable. I identified the nationality by the flags painted on the hulls. I know it may be slightly off topic, but does anyone have any idea of these ship's identities? Also, is there any information concerning the use of configurations similar to traditional lakes freighters for saltwater vessels?