science

Kinugawa Maru

Kinugawa Maru is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kinugawa Maru rather than just read about it. In short: Kinugawa Maru was a Japanese transport ship built in 1938 for civilian service and later requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Army as an armed transport. She took part in the Japanese reinforcement attempts to retake Guadalcanal in November 1942 and was beached and destroyed on 15 November 1942.

Key takeaways

Kinugawa Maru belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kinugawa Maru to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kinugawa Maru from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kinugawa Maru was a Japanese transport ship built in 1938 for civilian service and later requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Army as an armed transport. She took part in the Japanese reinforcement attempts to retake Guadalcanal in November 1942 and was beached and destroyed on 15 November 1942. The wreck, known locally as "Bonegi 2", lies close to shore and remains a popular dive site from Bonegi (Mbonege) Beach.

Design and construction Kinugawa Maru was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at Nagasaki in 1938. Originally constructed as a cargo/passenger vessel, she was assessed at 6,937 gross register tons (GRT) and measured about 133 metres (436 ft 4 in) in length. The ship was later requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and converted for use as an armed transport. This included installation of anti-aircraft weaponry for operations in areas exposed to Allied air attack.

Service history

Early operations As an IJA transport, Kinugawa Maru carried troops and supplies throughout the Southwest Pacific. Her movements prior to late 1942 are documented in Japanese postwar loss summaries and Allied intelligence assessments.

Solomon Islands campaign In November 1942, Kinugawa Maru sailed as part of the major Japanese reinforcement convoy sent down The Slot toward Guadalcanal. After heavy American air attacks on 14 November crippled or sank most of the transports, Kinugawa Maru and three other surviving transport ships (Hirokawa Maru, Yamaura Maru and Yamatsuki Maru) were ordered by Admiral Kondō to beach and offload troops.

Sinking

In the early hours of 15 November 1942, Kinugawa Maru was deliberately beached on the shore near Bonegi to disembark soldiers before daylight. Once stranded, the ship became a stationary target. At dawn, the beached vessel came under attack from artillery, aircraft, and naval gunfire. Fires broke out aboard the ship, and continued bombardment reduced her to a burned-out hulk. Allied forces recorded the ship as destroyed on 15 November 1942.

Wreck The wreck of Kinugawa Maru lies just off Bonegi (Mbonege) Beach, northwest of Honiara. The engine remains partly above the waterline and the stern lies in 27 m. Kinugawa Maru is known locally as "Bonegi 2" and is frequently dived due to its accessibility, abundant corals, and other marine life. ("Bonegi 1" is the nearby wreck of Hirokawa Maru.)

Gallery

See also Naval Battle of Guadalcanal Guadalcanal campaign Ironbottom Sound

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kinugawa Maru

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kinugawa Maru claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kinugawa Maru before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kinugawa Maru ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kinugawa Maru

In research: Kinugawa Maru appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kinugawa Maru in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kinugawa Maru is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1938 ships, Guadalcanal Campaign, Maritime incidents in November 1942, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kinugawa Maru outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kinugawa Maru in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kinugawa Maru means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kinugawa Maru out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kinugawa Maru in simple terms?

Why does Kinugawa Maru matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kinugawa Maru?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kinugawa Maru.