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Japan Arrow - (1920-1942)
See also : American Arrow- (1942-1944 + 1946-1947)
S.S. Japan Arrow (American tanker, 1920)
Photographed in the 1920s or 1930s.
This ship became USS Chotauk (IX-188) in 1944.
( U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph )
"Japan Arrow" August 17th, 1929.( Photo Taylor, William B. )
"Japan Arrow", location and date unknown.
"Japan Arrow", location and date unknown.Additional information Starke & Schell registers :
JAPAN ARROW - 1920, ex, Japan Arrow 1942
LOA 485 ' 2 ", Beam 62 ' 6 ", Depth 39 ' 6 " 13,325 DWT, 99,742 bbls Quadruple expansion engine 51" stroke, 3200 IHP, 10.6 knots.
Launched 23 October and commissioned 24 November 1920 at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts. This ship, as Japan Arrow, entered service at a time when, due to ever-shifting requirements, no further ships were needed in the foreign trade. Thus she did not get to the Far East until August 1925, when she left the US for her first trip to India by way of the Suez Canal. She sailed to nearly all the countries of the oriental hemisphere, except one - Japan Arrow never carried a cargo of oil to Japan ! In fact, she would not even have visited Japan if she had not run aground at Foochow in April 1921 and had to call at Yokohama for fuel to nil up her depleted bunkers !
Her foreign service terminated in 1930 and she settled down to routine delivery of oil from Texas to ports north of Hatteras. There was one interesting exception to the routine. In 1939 she carried a fractionating tower from Claremont Terminal, New Jersey, to Beaumont, Texas, for use in the Magnolia Petroleum Company's refinery there. The tower was as high as a 12-storey building, weighed 180 tons and was 124" long and 14' in diameter. No freight line would take it. Cradles were welded to the Japan Arrow's deck, and the list caused by the weight on the port side aft was compensated for by ballast in the cargo tanks on the opposite side.
In February 1942, after Pearl Harbor, Japan Arrow was renamed American Arrow, to avoid any unfortunate association of ideas. Under her new name she was requisitioned by WSA in March 1942 for war duty. She served mostly out of Abadan to South Africa, Australia and India, with only rare returns to a US port for fresh supplies and family reunions. Her longest war voyage was from June 1943 to September 1944 - a total of 15 months !
In September 1944, as part of the two-old-tankers-for-one-new barter, ownership of American Arrow passed to the US government. Renamed Chotaik, she served successfully throughout the war. Then, 26 years old, she was declared worn out and retired.
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Additional information Starke & Schell registers :
JAPAN ARROW - 1920 USA 1Q (aft) (11)
8,327 GRT for Standard Transportation Co., Inc., New York 468.3 x 62.7
Tanker built by Bethlehem SB. Corp., Quincy, Mass (11) #1386 220831
1931 - Standard-Vacuum Transportation Co., Inc., New York
1935 - Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc., New York
1942 - AMERICAN ARROW s/o
11/1944 - CHOTAUK U. S. Navy (IX-188) Station tanker
2/1946 - AMERICAN ARROW War Shipping Administration, New York
Sold to M. S. Kaplan Co., Chicago for scrapping, Broken up at New Orleans May 1947, by Southern Shipwrecking Co.
The Miramar Ship Index for "JAPAN ARROW"
IDNo:
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2220831
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Year:
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1920
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Name:
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JAPAN ARROW
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Keel:
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Type:
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Tanker
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Launch Date:
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23.10.1920
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Flag:
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USA
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Date of completion:
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11.1920
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Tons:
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8327
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Link:
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-
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DWT:
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|
Yard No:
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1386
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Length overall:
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|
Ship Design:
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LPP:
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142.7
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Country of build:
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USA
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Beam:
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19.1
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Builder:
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Bethlehem SB Corp.
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Material of build:
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Location of yard:
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Quincy
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Number of screws/Mchy/Speed(kn):
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1Q-11
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|
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Subsequent History:
1942 AMERICAN ARROW - 1944 CHOTAUK -
1946 AMERICAN ARROW
Disposal Data:
Scrapped at New Orleans 05.1947 [ By Southern Shipwrecking Co. ]
History:
ON
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LR/IMO
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ID
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Year
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Name
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Tons
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Change
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Registered Owner
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220831
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2220831
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1920
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JAPAN ARROW
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8327
|
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Standard Tptn Co Inc.
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220831
|
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2220831
|
1920
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JAPAN ARROW
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8327
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1931
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Standard-Vacuum Tptn Co Inc.
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220831
|
|
2220831
|
1920
|
JAPAN ARROW
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8327
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1935
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Socony-Vacuum Oil Co Inc.
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220831
|
|
2220831
|
1920
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AMERICAN ARROW
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8327
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1942
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Socony-Vacuum Oil Co Inc.
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IX-188
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2220831
|
1920
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CHOTAUK
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8327
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1944
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U.S. Navy
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220831
|
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2220831
|
1920
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AMERICAN ARROW
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8327
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1946
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U.S. Govt.
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Chotauk Class Mobile Floating Fuel Storage Ship:
Built in 1920 as Japan Arrow at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Quincy, MA.
Renamed American Arrow
Acquired by the Navy from the War Shipping Administration, 29 November 1944, at Pearl Harbor, T.H.
Commissioned Miscellaneous Unclassified USS Chotauk (IX-188), 29 November 1944
Decommissioned, 7 February 1946, at Mobile, AL.
Struck from the Naval Register (date unknown)
Returned to the War Shipping Administration for disposal, 7 February 1946
Final Disposition, see above.
Specifications:
Displacement 18,925 t.(fl)
Length 485'
Beam 62' 8"
Draft28'
Speed 10 kts.
Complement (unknown)
Armament one 4" gun mount, one 3"/50 gun mount, eight 20mm guns
Propulsion system unknown.
View the Chotauk (IX-188)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway web site.