Cruise ship “Nippon Maru” at Auckland, January 1975
Owner: Mitsui-OSK Lines (Passenger) Ltd.
Flag: Japan
Builder: Mirsubishi Heavy Industries Reorg., Kobe
Gross tons: 10,770
Deadweight: 7,195
Length overall: 156.5 m
Max. draft: 7.525 m
Engines: 2 x Westinghouse steam turbines (geared to single shaft), 9,000 s.h.p., by builder
Service speed: 16.25 knots
Completed 1958 as passenger ship “Argentina Maru” (10,908 gross tons; passenger capacities: 12 cabin, 82 tourist, 960 third class) for Osaka Shosen Kaisha for South American emmigrant trade (see promotional brochure at http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/osk69-i.htm)
Owner merged with Mitsui Steamship Co. 1964 to form MOL
Withdrawn from South American trade February 1972, refitted as a cruise ship & renamed “Nippon Maru”. Employed on educational cruises sponsored by Japanese Government
Sold for demolition at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, December 1976.