Itsukushima Maru was a Japanese tanker from the interwar period and World War II. The keel for this unit was laid in 1937, launched in September 1937, and commissioned in December of the same year. The total length of the ship at the time of launching was approx. 152 m, width approx. 20 m, and the actual displacement - approx. 10,000 tons. The top speed of the tanker reached 19-20 knots. In 1944, the armament of the unit consisted of a single 120mm cannon, 16 25mm anti-aircraft guns and 18 depth charges. The unit could also take a single seaplane on board.
Itsukushima Maru was one of the Tatekawa Maru class tankers, which class - along with several other classes of tankers - is referred to in English as Kawasaki-type oiler. The presented tanker was built at the Kawasaki shipyard in the city of Kobe, and its original user was the Japanese shipping lines Nippon Suisan. It is worth noting that the Tatekawa Maru class of tankers was structurally very similar to the chronologically younger Toa Maru class and differed from it in a few construction details. Undoubtedly, the Nippon Maru was a fully ocean-going tanker capable of long navigation, and for the mid-1930s it was a modern vessel. The Itsukushima Maru tanker carried out fully civilian crude oil transportation tasks from 1937 to 1941. However, in the second half of 1941, it was commandeered by the Japanese Navy and modernized to meet its requirements. In 1943 it was reclassified as an auxiliary unit and directly subordinated to the Ministry of the Navy. In September 1944, he was assigned to the 2nd Fleet. On October 27, 1944, the tanker was severely damaged by the US submarine USS Bergall, and four days later the Itsukushima Maru tanker sank.