Hashima-class cable layer

Hashima on 25 October 1940
Class overview
Name	Hashima-class cable layer
Builders	Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation Harima Zōsen Corporation
Operators	Imperial Japanese Navy Government of Japan Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation
Cost	1,760,000 JPY[1]
Built	1939–1941
In commission	1940–1968
Planned	4
Completed	4
Lost	3
Retired	1
General characteristics
Type	Cable layer
Displacement	1,560 long tons (1,585 t) standard
Length	76.80 m (252 ft 0 in) overall
Beam	10.80 m (35 ft 5 in)
Draught	3.53 m (11 ft 7 in)
Propulsion	2 × triple expansion stages reciprocating engines 2 × Kampon coal-fired boilers 2 shafts, 600 shp
Speed	14.0 knots (16.1 mph; 25.9 km/h)
Range	1,000 nmi (1,900 km) at 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h)
Complement	109
Armament	1 × 76.2 mm (3.00 in) L/40 AA gun 2 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) AA guns 9 × depth charges 12 × Type 92 remotely controlled mines or 20,000 m (65,616 ft 10 in)) submarine cable

The Hashima-class cable layers (初島型電纜敷設艇,, Hashima-gata Denran-Fusetsutei) were the only class of purpose-built cable layers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), serving during World War II. Four vessels were built in 1939–41 under the Maru 4 Programme.

Apart from laying communications cables, these ships were also designed as mine planters, for the installation of controlled mines in coastal fortifications.

Ships in class

Project number J21.

Ship	Builder	Laid down[2]	Launched[2]	Completed	Fate
Hashima (初島) ex-Hatsushima	Kawasaki, Kōbe Shipyard	15 October 1939 as Hatsushima	10 April 1940	25 October 1940 as Hashima	Renamed Hashima on 25 October 1940. Sunk by USS Sennet off Owase 33°58′N 136°17′E on 28 April 1945. Decommissioned on 10 July 1945.
Tsurushima (釣島)	Kawasaki, Kōbe Shipyard	15 January 1940	24 May 1940	28 March 1941	Decommissioned on 30 November 1945. Transferred to Ministry of Communications and Transportation and renamed Tsurushima Maru (釣島丸) in 1945. Transferred to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation on 8 September 1951. Retired in March 1968.
Ōtate (大立)[3]	Harima Zōsen	22 April 1940	11 December 1940	31 July 1941	Sunk by air raid off Kusagaki Islands 30°40′N 127°50′E on 27 March 1945. Decommissioned on 10 July 1945.
Tateishi (立石)	Harima Zōsen	22 April 1940	1 March 1941	31 August 1941	Sunk by air raid in South China Sea 11°50′N 109°18′E on 21 March 1945. Decommissioned on 10 May 1945.

Photos

• 
  Tsurushima on 20 March 1941
• 
  Ōtate in 1941
• 
  Tateishi on 21 March 1945
• 
  Tsurushima Maru in postwar

Footnotes

1. Senshi Sōsho Vol.31 (1969), p.804
2. Senshi Sōsho Vol.31 (1969), p.806
3. 10 December 1940, Notice No. 288, Named one minesweeper, one submarine chaser and two cable layers, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of the Navy, 1940.

Bibliography

• Monthly Ships of the World, Special issue Vol.45, "Escort Vessels of the Imperial Japanese Navy", "Kaijinsha"., (Japan), February 1996
• The Maru Special, Japanese Naval Vessels No.47, "Japanese naval mine warfare crafts", "Ushio Shobō". (Japan), January 1981
• Senshi Sōsho Vol.31, Naval armaments and war preparation (1), "Until November 1941", Asagumo Simbun (Japan), November 1969