Tategami-class tugboat

The Tategami-class salvage tugboats were a class of rescue ship/tugboat of the Imperial Japanese Navy, serving during World War II. The Miura-class was a wartime variant which introduced measures to simplify production. The official IJN designation for all vessels was 800-ton salvage tugboat.

Background

After the Russo-Japanese War, the IJN purchased many steamships and converted them to salvage vessels. However, by the beginning of the 1930s, replacements were needed, to this end the IJN introduced the Tategami-class.

Ships in classes

''Tategami'' class

The IJN was going to build the Tategami class one by one for three years from fiscal year 1936, at first. However, the plan came to a deadlock for budget shortage by the second year. The IJN postponed building of second ship Oshima for two years.

Ship	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Completed	Fate
ex-Salvage tugboat No. 941	Harima Zōsen	27 May 1936 as Salvage tugboat No. 941	29 August 1936	25 January 1937 as Tategami	Renamed Tategami on 22 January 1937. Survived war; decommissioned on 30 November 1945. Sold to Nippon Salvage Company and renamed Tategami Maru in 1945. Retired in 1968.
one vessel					Converted to Kasashima class, because naval budget was short.
	Maizuru Naval Arsenal			fiscal year 1939	Sunk in an accident in Truk on 10 October 1943.
	Harima Zōsen	11 January 1940	16 May 1940	21 October 1940	Sunk by USN Destroyer Squadron 23 off Kavieng with minelayer Natsushima on 22 February 1944.

''Miura'' class

To simplify and speed-up construction of the Tategami class, the Kampon introduced wartime standard ship structures into the Tategami design.

Ship	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Completed	Fate
	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Shimonoseki shipyard	5 May 1944	7 September 1944	25 December 1944	Survived war; decommissioned on 30 November 1945; renamed Miura Maru in postwar. Transferred to Japan Maritime Safety Agency on 4 August 1949; renamed Miura on 15 December; retired on 3 June 1967.
	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Shimonoseki shipyard	15 July 1944	16 December 1944	12 March 1945	Survived war; decommissioned on 30 November 1945. Transferred to Tōyō Salvage K.K. and renamed Yumihari Maru in 1945, sold to Kawanami Kōgyō Corporation in 1947. Sold to Thailand and renamed Rangkwien in 1958. Decommissioned on 30 April 1979.
Hanashima	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Shimonoseki shipyard	23 October 1944 as Hanashima	5 December 1945 as Akama Maru	28 February 1947	Incomplete until the end of war; transferred to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and renamed Akama Maru in 1945. Sold to Kambara Kisen Company and renamed Tensya Maru No. 3 in 1954, aground and broken in February 1962 at Kitan Strait.