Sinking of Toyo Maru by air attack 8 April 1943

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peterc
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Sinking of Toyo Maru by air attack 8 April 1943

Post by peterc »

I'm presently updating my loss list of ships sunk at and around Rabaul and am looking for help around a particular mystery.

The Toyo Maru (1941 built 1916 gross tons 1D type) is known to have left Rabaul in an army convoy bound for Palau on 1 April 1943. This is corroborated by Japanese records and independently by Allied codebreaker (Ultra) records. Allied records however show the ship as sunk by air attack 8 April 1943 in Rabaul whereas Japanese records show the ship as torpedoed and sunk 05.04N 139.23E (about 50km SE of Koror, Palau) on 8 April. This is almost certainly wrong as no allied submarine attack is recorded on this date/place making an attack. The ship could have been lost on this date and place but not to submarine attack which leaves options like internal explosion etc. It did however take a typical Japanese convoy about 7-8 days to reach Palau from Rabaul so the timing/location fits- assuming that Toyo Maru was still in the convoy and hadn't returned to Rabaul eg to carry out repairs.

The question is is it possible that the ship was sunk by air attack at any point on the journey and are there any records to show an air attack of any sort on Rabaul or on a largish engines aft ship (often mistaken for a tanker) at any point in the Rabaul-Palau convoy route in the period 1-8 April 1943?

The wreck of the Toyo Maru has not been found in Rabaul Harbour though the repair anchorage was typically in Karavia Bay or out in the wider Blanche Bay anchorage meaning the ship might have sunk in very deep water.

Pacific (air) Chronology indicate possible B17 attacks on convoy off Kavieng 1/3 April 1943 but no attacks on Rabaul 8 April 1943. Does anyone have any more precise info on these attacks and any claims against shipping made?

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