Hōkoku Maru

	Hōkoku Maru in wartime camouflage
History
Japan
Name	Hōkoku Maru
Owner	Osaka Syōsen KK
Operator	Imperial Japanese Navy
Port of registry	Osaka
Builder	Tama Shipbuilding Co Ltd
Laid down	18 August 1938
Launched	5 July 1939
Completed	15 June 1940
Acquired	requisitioned 29 August 1941
Commissioned	into Japanese Navy, 20 September 1941
Maiden voyage	Kobe – Dairen
Identification	call sign JCSN; ;
Fate	Sunk by enemy action, 7 November 1942
General characteristics
Class and type	Hōkoku Maru-class ocean liner
Tonnage	10,439 GRT, 6,159 NRT
Length	499.5 ft (152.2 m)
Beam	66.3 ft (20.2 m)
Depth	40.7 ft (12.4 m)
Decks	3
Installed power	2,490 NHP
Propulsion	2 × screws; 2 × two-stroke diesel engines;
Speed	20.9 knots (38.7 km/h)
Capacity	as passenger liner:; 400 × first class; 48 × special-third class; 404 × third class;
Crew	150
Sensors and ; processing systems	wireless direction finding; echo sounding device; gyrocompass;
Armament	as armed merchant cruiser:; 8 × 150 mm (5.9 in) L/40 guns; 2 × 76.2 mm (3.00 in) L/40 guns; 4 × 530 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes;
Aircraft carried	2 × Kawanishi E7K seaplanes

Hōkoku Maru (報國丸) was an Hōkoku Maru-class ocean liner that served as an armed merchant cruiser in the Second World War. She was launched in 1939 and completed in 1940 for Osaka Shosen Lines.

In 1941 she was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy. She served as a commerce raider and submarine tender. Two Allied naval ships sank her in a naval engagement in 1942.

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