Landing craft carriers or landing craft depot ships were an innovative type of amphibious warfare ship developed by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II . The prototype was developed in secrecy under the pseudonyms Ryujo Maru and Fuso Maru using features later adopted by other navies for dock landing ships and amphibious transport docks . Additional ships were built after combat experience validated the concept, but most were completed after the Japanese invasions of the early war, and used primarily as troopships during later operations. Today's amphibious assault ships bear a strong similarity to this concept.
27-537: Kumano Maru ( 熊野丸 ) was a landing craft carrier with a full-length flight deck built for the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II . Completed in early 1945, fuel shortages meant that the ship never became operational during the war. She was turned over to the Allies at Kure when Japan surrendered later that year. Before beginning to repatriate Japanese troops home, Kumano Maru
54-914: A flight deck with a capacity for 28 aircraft, but no hangar deck, since the deck beneath the flight deck was used to carry 25 landing craft launched through stern doors. Akisu Maru was completed in time to participate in the invasion of Java; but she and the other Hei-types were thereafter used primarily as ferries to transport short-range aircraft to distant bases. The first two were completed from 11,800-ton, 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) Nippon Kaiun, K. K. passenger ships under construction by Harima Shipbuilding. They operated two Kayaba Ka-1 autogyros . Both were sunk by submarines in 1944. The others were based on Hitachi Shipbuilding Corporation 's standard 8,000-ton, 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) Type-M cargo steam ship modified (Type-MC) to carry twelve Toku Daihatsu-class landing craft launched through stern doors with funnels installed horizontally on
81-660: A single hangar that was served by a lift at the rear of the flight deck. A large crane was fitted on the rear port side of the ship. The intended air group of the Kumano Maru s was to consist of eight depth-charge equipped Kokusai Ki-76 liaison aircraft . If serving as an aircraft transport, the ships could fit 18 Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate fighters on the flight deck and 17 more in the hangar. The carriers had two Kampon geared steam turbines , each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by three Kampon water-tube boilers . The fourth boiler cited in many sources
108-413: A standard displacement of 6,314 t (6,214 long tons). The ships had an overall length of 152 metres (498 ft 8 in), a beam of 19.58 metres (64 ft 3 in) and a draft of 6.95 metres (22 ft 10 in). The flight deck was 110 metres (360 ft 11 in) long, 21.5 metres (70 ft 6 in) wide, and was fitted with a four-wire Kayaba arresting gear system. They had
135-531: Is from Middle English ladebord and the term lade is related to the modern load . Larboard sounds similar to starboard and in 1844 the Royal Navy ordered that port be used instead. The United States Navy followed suit in 1846. Larboard continued to be used well into the 1850s by whalers . In chapter 12 of Life on the Mississippi (1883) Mark Twain writes larboard was used to refer to
162-417: Is the side to the left of an observer aboard the vessel and facing the bow , towards the direction the vessel is heading when underway in the forward direction. The starboard side is to the right of such an observer. This convention allows orders and information to be communicated unambiguously, without needing to know which way any particular crew member is facing. The term starboard derives from
189-422: Is where access to a boat, ship, or aircraft is at the side; it is usually only on the port side (hence the name). Port side and starboard side respectively refer to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow. The port and starboard sides of the vessel always refer to the same portion of the vessel's structure, and do not depend on the position of someone aboard the vessel. The port side
216-482: The French tribord , Italian tribordo, Catalan estribord , Portuguese estibordo , Spanish estribor and Estonian tüürpoord . Since the steering oar was on the right side of the boat, it would tie up at the wharf on the other side. Hence the left side was called port . The Oxford English Dictionary cites port in this usage since 1543. Formerly, larboard was often used instead of port . This
243-530: The Old English steorbord , meaning the side on which the ship is steered. Before ships had rudders on their centrelines, they were steered with a steering oar at the stern of the ship on the right hand side of the ship, because more people are right-handed . The "steer-board" etymology is shared by the German Steuerbord, Dutch stuurboord and Swedish styrbord , which gave rise to
270-559: The bow and stern. They fired 27-kilogram (60 lb) shells to a range of 4,500 metres (4,900 yd). Kumano Maru was laid down at the Hitachi Shipbuilding shipyard at Innoshima , near Kure , as a standard wartime cargo ship on 15 August 1944 and was converted into her aircraft-carrier configuration while under construction. The ship was launched on 28 January 1945 and was attacked by 13 Grumman F6F Hellcat and 14 Vought F4U Corsair fighters on 19 March during
297-623: The starboard side and vented horizontally outward to keep the flight deck clear. Their bridges were located under the forward edge of the flight deck. Their crew consisted of 107 men; including embarked troops, the ships' complement numbered 1,664. The Kumano Maru -class carriers were classified as M Type C landing ships by the IJA. They could carry up to a dozen 17.1-metre (56 ft) Toku Daihatsu-class landing craft and thirteen 14-metre (46 ft) Daihatsu-class landing craft in their holds that were launched on rails through two large doors in
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#1732801460556324-416: The stern . Air defence for the carriers consisted of eight 75 mm (3 in) Type 88 anti-aircraft (AA) guns on single mounts below the flight deck; three on the starboard side and five on the port side. These fired 6.5 kg (14 lb) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 720 m/s (2,400 ft/s). These were supplemented by six autocannon on single mounts; two on platforms in front of
351-654: The American air raid on the Kure area . Undamaged during the attack, she was completed on 31 March. Fuel oil shortages caused the Japanese to consider removing her turbines and converting the ship's boilers to burn coal, but nothing was ultimately done. Kumano Maru never became operational during the war. The ship was turned over to the Allies on 15 August when Japan surrendered and was disarmed. To improve her suitability for
378-560: The Army's auxiliary escort carriers would be dedicated to protecting the merchant ships. The services agreed that the IJA would convert two standard Type M (military) 9,502- gross register ton (GRT) cargo ships into landing-craft carriers with full aviation facilities, beginning with Kumano Maru . The Kumano Maru -class ships had a flush-decked configuration that displaced 8,128 tonnes (8,000 long tons ) at standard load , although naval historian Hans Lengerer states that they had
405-551: The UK's Merchant Shipping (Distress Signals and Prevention of Collisions) Regulations 1996 (and comparable US documents from the US Coast Guard ) —sets forth requirements for maritime vessels to avoid collisions, whether by sail or powered, and whether a vessel is overtaking, approaching head-on, or crossing. To set forth these navigational rules, the terms starboard and port are essential, and to aid in in situ decision-making,
432-586: The flight deck and the remainder on a platform aft of the flight deck. Sources disagree whether they were Army 20 mm (0.8 in) Type 98 guns or Navy 25 mm (1 in) Type 96 guns. The Type 98 gun fired its 136 g (4.8 oz) shells at a practical rate of 100 rounds per minute, while the Type 96 gun had a rate of fire for its 250 g (8.8 oz) shells of about 110 rounds per minute. The ships were also equipped with two single 150 mm (5.9 in) anti-submarine mortars on platforms at
459-505: The left side of the ship ( Mississippi River steamboat ) in his days on the river – circa 1857–1861. Lewis Carroll rhymed larboard and starboard in "Fit the Second" of The Hunting of the Snark (1876). An Anglo-Saxon record of a voyage by Ohthere of Hålogaland used the word "bæcbord" ("back-board") for the left side of a ship. With the steering rudder on the starboard side the man on
486-557: The main deck (between port and starboard funnels for those carried forward of the superstructure ) down to the waterline through large hinged doors at the stern. Settsu Maru survived for use as a repatriation ship, but her sister ships were sunk in air raids on Japanese ports. Takatsu Maru was a 5,656-ton, 19-knot steam ship completed in January 1944 with icebreaker capability, and used conventional cranes rather than gates for handling nine Toku-Daihatsu-class landing craft. She
513-501: The participants focused on improving the number of carriers available. The IJA proposed converting oil tankers into escort carriers and agreed to forgo any further construction of Akitsu Maru -class landing craft carriers with limited aviation facilities. The Imperial Japanese Navy Technical Department agreed to design the conversions while the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff required that
540-553: The rudder had his back to the bagbord (Nordic for portside) side of the ship. The words for "port side" in other European languages, such as German Backbord , Dutch and Afrikaans bakboord , Swedish babord , Spanish babor , Portuguese bombordo , Italian babordo , French bâbord and Estonian pakpoord , are derived from the same root. The navigational treaty convention, the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea —for instance, as appears in
567-562: The starboard side to accommodate a flight deck. The larger type were 11,910-ton, 20.8 knots (38.5 km/h; 23.9 mph) diesel-engined ships fitted with stern ramp gates for launching twenty Daihatsu-class landing craft stored in floodable holds . At the time, this launching method was unprecedented. Both were sunk by submarines with very heavy loss of life. Later production was Hitachi's standard Type-M steam ship modified (Type-MA) to carry twelve Toku-Daihatsu-class landing craft. The landing craft were launched from rails which ran along
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#1732801460556594-417: The task of repatriating Japanese forces abroad, her horizontal funnel was replaced by a vertical one and four large lifeboats was added on davits that overhung the flight deck. Kumano Maru remained on repatriation duty until she was sold for scrap to Kawasaki in 1947; demolition began at their Kobe facility on 4 November and lasted until 1 September 1948. Landing craft carrier Shinshū Maru
621-423: The two sides of each vessel are marked, dusk to dawn, by navigation lights , the vessel's starboard side by green and its port side by red. Aircraft are lit in the same way. Port and starboard are also commonly used when dividing crews; for example with a two watch system the teams supplying the personnel are often named Port and Starboard. This may extend to entire crews, such as the forward-deployed crews of
648-417: Was a cylindrical donkey boiler for the ship's steam-powered machinery. The turbines were rated at a total of 10,000 shaft horsepower (7,500 kW ) for a speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) or 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). The Kumano Maru s had a range of 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Their funnels were positioned on
675-412: Was completed in 1935 and modified in 1936 to include a floodable well dock . She was the world's first ship specifically designed to carry and launch landing craft . She introduced stern and side gates to launch landing craft for the 2,200 soldiers she carried. She demonstrated the advantages of the concept at the invasions of Shanghai , Malaya and Java . Hei-type landing craft carriers included
702-484: Was disarmed and modified to facilitate that mission. The ship continued to do so until she was sold for scrap in 1947. In March 1944 the IJA and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) held a conference to decide how to better protect their merchant shipping from the heavy losses suffered at the hands of American submarines . The IJN's escort carriers had, at best, limited success in doing so thus far and
729-558: Was sunk by United States aircraft in Ormoc Bay during the invasion of the Philippines . Starboard Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft , aircraft and spacecraft , referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front). Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are mirror images of each other. One asymmetric feature
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