Ship profile for the sailing ship: "Nippon Maru I"

Technical data of the sailing ship:

Name:Nippon Maru I
Registered port:Tokio
Nation:JAPAN
Type of rigging:4-MAST-BARK
Year built:1930
Yard:Kawasaki Shipyard, Kobe-Hondo
Overall length:97.00 m
Length (hull):93.50 m
Breadth:12.95 m
Draught:6.90 m
Sail area:2397 m2
Ship's hull:Stahl / Steel
Power:1200 PS
Engine:2 x 600 6 Zyl. Diesel

Portrait of the sailing ship:

Last update: 30 Sep 2001

  • built for the Japanese Ministry of Transport as merchant navy schoolship to a British design as a four-masted bark at the Kawasaki Dockyard Co., at Kobe, lauched on January 27th, 1930, her sister ship is the "Kaiwo Maru I".
  • sailed regular training voyages in the Pacific until the WW II
  • during the WW II she continued to train officers, although the yards of her rigging were removed and she operated under engine power only, used for repatriation of Japanese troops and civilians, left under Japanese authority and ownership.
  • re-rigged and recommissioned in 1952, continued to sail regular training voyages, usually in the Pacific and occasionally taking part in international tall ship events, visited New York on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Japan's first delegation to the USA in 1960, participated the American Bicentennial celebrations in New York 1976, took part in the international tall-ship gathering at Osaka in 1983.
  • decommissioned in Septemper 1984, replaced by the "Nippon Maru II", retired as a floating museum at Yokohama, under the management of the Nippon Maru Commemorative Foundation
  • the word "Nippon" means "Japan", the word "Maru" is appended to most Japanese merchant vessels and it is a term of endearment that also conveys the idea of endeavour.

Contact:

Website (Japanese, 13 Jan 2023):
https://www.nippon-maru.or.jp/new
Nippon Maru Memorial Park: presentation of the ship at the exhibition in Yokohama, information for visitors, photos

Literature for further reading:

We recommend the following references for your further research of the ship. The references marked with have been included in the generation of the ship profile on this page.

Otmar Schäuffelen
"Die letzten grossen Segelschiffe"
Delius Klasing Verlag 1997 ISBN: 3-7688-0483-6
(9. aktualisierte Auflage)
Page: 186 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data

Giancarlo Schiavoni
"Unter Segeln, die grossen Windjammer auf den Weltmeeren"
Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH 1994 ISBN: 3-7822-0605-3
(ital. Originalausgabe: "La nave a vela")
Page: 152 Source with picture

"Faszination Segelschiffe"
Ein interaktives Informationssystem auf CD-ROM 1998
(2. überarbeitete Auflage)
Source with technical data Quelle with contact

Otmar Schäuffelen
"Die letzten grossen Segelschiffe"
Delius Klasing Verlag 2002 ISBN: 3-7688-0483-6
(10. aktualisierte und erweiterte Auflage)
Page: 200 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data