Japanese fleet oiler Hario

The Hario (針尾) was a Japanese fleet oiler, serving during World War II. Four vessels were planned under the Maru Sen Programme; however, only one vessel was completed by the end of war.

History
Name	Hario
Namesake	Hario Channel
Builder	Harima Zōsen Corporation
Laid down	2 June 1944
Launched	4 October 1944
Completed	1 December 1944
Commissioned	1 December 1944
Decommissioned	10 May 1945
Fate	Sunk on 3 March 1945
Class overview
Preceded by	Kazahaya-class oiler
Succeeded by	Muroto-class collier
General characteristics
Type	Replenishment oiler
Displacement	18,500 long tons (18,797 t) standard
Length	154.32 m (506 ft 4 in) Lpp
Beam	20.00 m (65 ft 7 in)
Draught	8.80 m (28 ft 10 in)
Propulsion	1 × Mitsubishi geared turbine 2 × Mk.21 simple boilers single shaft, 8,600 shp
Speed	16.5 knots (19.0 mph; 30.6 km/h)
Range	9,000 nmi (17,000 km) at 16 kn (18 mph; 30 km/h)
Capacity	unknown
Complement	unknown
Armament	2 × 120 mm (4.7 in) L/45 AA guns 16 × Type 96 25mm AA guns

Construction

The Hario-class oilers were planned instead of the cancelled Kazahaya class oilers. The Navy Technical Department (Kampon) armed these vessels as a Type 1TL wartime standard ship.

Service

The Hario was completed and assigned to the Combined Fleet on 1 December 1944, joining the Hi-89 convoy from Moji to Singapore on 24 January 1945. She arrived in Singapore on 9 February 1945, joining the Hi-94 convoy (returning to Moji from Singapore) on 23 February 1945. On 1 March, she arrived at a relay point at Yulin, Hainan. Two days later, on 3 March, she left Yulin, only to hit a mine and sink the same day. She was decommissioned 10 May.

Ships in class

Ship #	Ship	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Completed	Fate
4901	Hario (針尾)	Harima Zōsen Corporation	2 June 1944	4 October 1944	1 December 1944	Struck a naval mine at Yulin and sank on 3 March 1945.
4902	Inatori (稲取)					Cancelled in 1945.
4903	Karasaki (韓崎)
4904	Tatsumai (龍舞)

References

• Ships of the World special issue Vol.47, Auxiliary Vessels of the Imperial Japanese Navy, "Kaijinsha"., (Japan), March 1997
• Shinshichirō Komamiya, The Wartime Convoy Histories, "Shuppan Kyōdōsha". Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2009-05-23., (Japan), October 1987, ISBN 4-87970-047-9