| Original caption: “Coast Guardsmen swim under Jap[anese] landmark – United States Coast Guardsmen go for a swim under the hull of a famous Japanese landmark in the Solomons. It is the Kinugawa Maru, beached by the Japanese after being riddled by American gunners. These Coast Guardsmen are members of a crew of a combat transport. Coast Guardsmen participated in the original invasion of the Solomons.” United States Coast Guardsmen swimming under the hull of the Kinugawa Maru at Bonegi, Guadalcanal. On November 15, 1942, 2 Japanese transports: Hirokawa Maru and Kinugawa Maru were beached and sunk off Bonegi in an attempt to deliver reinforcements, part of a convoy of 4 ships. Kinugawa Maru was Laid down 1938 by Mitsubishi Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (“Mitsubhishi Heavy Industries Share Company”) at Nagasaki. Registered with Lloyd’s of London in 1940 as 6,937 tons. Requisitioned in 1941 by the Imperial Japanese Army as an armed transport. At 0025 Hours on November 15, 1942, the 2nd phase of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal began in Iron Bottom Sound. Meanwhile, the 4 remaining transports afloat of the 2nd Assault Convoy, Kinugawa Maru, Hirokawa Maru, Yamaura Maru, and Yamatsuki Maru, stop to the west of Guadalcanal during a rain squall while the battle is underway. At 0051 Hours the 4 transports are ordered to beach themselves on Guadalcanal. Around 0400 Hours, the 4 remaining transports: Kinugawa Maru, Hirokawa Maru, Yamaura Maru, and Yamatsuki Maru all beached on Guadalcanal and began unloading. Kinugawa Maru beached near Bonegi. Before dawn, approximately 2,000 personnel, 260 cases of ammunition and 1,500 bags of rice made ashore. By 1st light, the 4 transports were spotted by the Americans. At 0500 Hours the nearest transport, Kinugawa Maru, was targeted by artillery fire from F Battery of the 244th Coast Artillery Battalion on at Lunga Point 19,500 yards (17.8 kilometers) away and set on fire. At 0545 Hours, 5 inch (127 millimeter) guns from the United States Marine defense Battalion opened fire on the 2nd ship and scored repeated hits causing it to catch fire and list to the port. Meanwhile, USS Meade (DD-602) arrived from Tulagi and began to shell both transports. In the morning, planes from Henderson Field and B-17s from Espiritu Santo bombed the transports. By noon, all 4 transports were sunk in shallow water near shore with most of their cargo destroyed before it could be unloaded. In early January 1943, the United States Army 147th Infantry Regiment overran a field hospital and killed all the patients including most of the 75 surviving crew from Kinugawa Maru. The ship was scrapped to the waterline in the 1960s and damaged in an earthquake in 1977. There are still a few pieces left above water, but for the most part, it has deteriorated. Divers can still get into 2 or 3 of the cargo holds underwater. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1685.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.13 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 2339 x 2892 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Coast Guard |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 1, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Bonegi |
| State or Province | Guadalcanal |
| Country | Solomons |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 26-G-2074 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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