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| Tonnage | 11,800 tons standard displacement |
| Dimensions | 471'7" by 64'0" by 37'9" 143.74m by 19.50m by 11.51m |
| Maximum speed | 20 knots |
| Aircraft | 403'6" (122.99m) flight deck 1 elevator 20 aircraft or 20 Daihatsu landing craft |
| Armament | 2 75mm antiaircraft
guns 10 75mm field guns |
| Machinery | 2-shaft turbine (7500 shp) 4 boilers |
The Akitsu Marus were built by the Japanese Army as "landing ships with flight decks." They could carry a combination of landing craft and small aircraft, the latter intended to be flown off to airstrips ashore. They had no practical capability to land aircraft, for which Army pilots were not trained in any case. Plans were considered to modify the flight decks to support landing, which might have resulted in a ship whose role anticipated that of the postwar U.S. amphibious assault ships. However, these plans were never implemented.
A small number of Ka-1 autogyros were modified by eliminating the second seat and installing racks for two 60 kg (132 lb) depth charges. These were intended to operate off the Akitsu Marus, prefiguring the postwar concept of helicopter-equipped antisubmarine escort vessels. It is unclear whether they ever actually operated in this fashion.
| Akitsu Maru | Completed 1942-1 (Harima) | Torpedoed 1944-11-15 by Queenfish off Korea |
| Nigitsu Maru | Completed 1943-3 (Harima) | Torpedoed 1944-1-12 by Hake near Rasa Island (132.85E 23.25N) |
References
Jentschura,
Jung, and Mickel (1977)
Naval
History via Flix (accessed 2009-3-13)
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