Japanese submarine tender Komahashi

Komahashi in 1933
History
Name:	Komahashi
Ordered:	1911 Fiscal Year
Builder:	Sasebo Naval Arsenal
Laid down:	7 October 1912
Launched:	21 May 1913
Completed:	20 January 1914
Decommissioned:	30 November 1945
Reclassified:	7 October 1912 as cargo ship 23 May 1914 as submersible tender 16 August 1914 as 2nd class coast defence ship 1 April 1920 as torpedo recovery ship 1 December 1924 as submarine tender
Fate:	Sunk on 28 July 1945.
General characteristics before April 1932
Type:	Cargo ship/submarine tender
Displacement:	1,125 long tons (1,143 t) standard 1,230 long tons (1,250 t) standing
Length:	64.01 m (210 ft 0 in) waterline
Beam:	10.67 m (35 ft 0 in)
Draught:	3.55 m (11 ft 8 in)
Propulsion:	2 × three expansion stages reciprocating engines 4 × scotch boilers 2 shafts, 1,824 shp (1,360 kW)
Speed:	13.9 knots (16.0 mph; 25.7 km/h)
Complement:	86
Armament:	in 1914 3 × QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun
General characteristics after November 1932
Type:	Survey ship
Displacement:	1,661 long tons (1,688 t) standing
Propulsion:	2 × Ikegai model diesels 2 × Kampon coal/oil-fired boilers 2 shafts, 1,800 shp (1,300 kW)
Speed:	14.0 knots (16.1 mph; 25.9 km/h)
Complement:	102
Armament:	around 1941 2 × QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun 1 × 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type naval gun 6 × Type 96 25 mm AA guns depth charges in 1945 1 × 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type naval gun 10 × Type 96 25 mm AA guns 2 × Type 93 13 mm AA guns 2 × Type 92 heavy machine guns depth charges
Komahashi in 1942

Komahashi (駒橋^?), was an auxiliary vessel operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy, serving from the 1910s through World War II. Her classification changed numerous times during her operational life. Although officially designated as a submarine tender for most of her career, Komahashi very rarely functioned in this role, but was used instead as an oceanographic survey vessel throughout the Pacific, and as a kaibokan escort vessel for convoys of merchant ships during the Pacific War.

The Imperial Japanese Navy received its first submarines during the Russo-Japanese War, but these vessels were not operational until after the war ended. During the post-war period, submarine warfare was given a low priority for development, as the early submarines were regarded as unsafe, and useful only for short-range coastal point defense.

Komahashi was designed and built as the Cargo ship Komahashi Maru (運送船 駒橋丸, Unsōsen Komahashi Maru^?) at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal. She was laid down on 7 October 1912 and was launched on 21 May 1913. She was specifically intended for the role of supplying the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Mako Guard District, located in the Pescadores between Taiwan and China. Her design was that of a standard three island merchant freighter, with two coal-fired Hayabara boilers producing 1825 shp, driving a single shaft, with a design speed of 14 knots. In 1932, she was modernized with two Ikegai diesel engines. She was armed with two QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns and one 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type naval gun.

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