2A Class, Japanese Cargo Ships

U.S. Navy. Via ibiblio.org

Specifications:

The 2As were standardized cargo vessels based loosely on the 1A class. The Japanese sometimes referred to it as the Modified A class. Designed in what Heal (2003) describes as "a near panic given the state of Japanese merchant shipping by 1943," they were designed for mass production rather than commercial economy, like the American Liberty Ships. The ships therefore had a reduced number of transverse frames and supporting beams (weakening their hulls) and no double bottom compartments. Engine failure was common. The machinery spaces were moved to the rear of these ships to reduce the lengths of shafts. As with their American equivalents, special yards were set up for their construction. Construction time was initially about 90 days, but steadily decreased to as little as 36 days.

These slow, fragile ships proved easy prey for submarine attack. Because of their poor reputation, most were employed in the private sector, while the Army and Navy requisitioned ships built to prewar designs.

Only those units completed through August 1945 are included in the table below. A sizable fraction of the ships laid down as 2As were converted on the ways to 2AT tankers, as the Japanese belatedly realized that American submarines had begun to concentrate on tanker traffic.

Units in the Pacific:

References:

Heal (2003)

Jentschura, Jung, and Mickel (1977)

ONI 208-J-S3 (1945-1; accessed 2011-12-19)

Parillo (1993)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009, 2011 by Kent G. Budge. Index

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