The Kinai Maru was a 8360 gross ton freighter built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd, Nagasaki

Nagasaki

is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, in 1930 for Osaka Shosen Kaisha for the Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

-New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 cargo run.

Launched on 1 April 1930 and completed on 15 June, she was slated for a express service between Yokohama and New York. She broke the industry standard of 35 days by covering the route in 25 days. She plied this route until the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and was requisitioned into Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

 as a transport in late 1941.

Employed in support of Japan's war effort she participated in landing troops at the battle of Milne Bay

Battle of Milne Bay

The Battle of Milne Bay, also known as Operation RE by the Japanese, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese marines attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea on 25 August 1942, and fighting continued until the Japanese retreated on 5...

. On 10 May 1943, she was torpedoed by the submarine USS Plunger

USS Plunger (SS-179)

, a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named plunger after a diver or a daring gambler. Unlike most American submarines of the day, she was not named for a fish or other sea-dwelling creature....

 near Truk at 0400. Stopped in the water Tatsutake Maru comes alongside and starts transferring the 4,000 passengers and troops. At 0748 Plunger torpedoes Tatsutake Maru while she is still alongside Kinai Maru and Tatsutake Maru sinks by the stern at 14-29N, 149-23E. At 1253, Plunger finds Kinai Maru still afloat and torpedoes her again, without sinking her. The Japanese torpedo boat Hiyodori rescues the survivors of Tatsutake Maru and Kinai Maru and leaves the area. Still afloat on 11 May at 0600, Plunger surfaces and sinks her by gunfire at 14-33N, 149-23E.