View Full Version : The new "War Melody" merchant
Looked through ONI 208 picking out likely ships she stands in for in the jap merchant marine:
Ada and Bennevis, and 23 others bought by the japs. 5100-5700 tons. Built in GB. MFM, though close looking.
Looks a lot like Toisei Maru, 5484 tons.
Lima Maru also very close looking at ~7000 tons. (they had 19 of 'em, that's a lot for 1 type in the japanese merchant marine)
Argun and Taibun Maru, almost spot on. 6500-6600 tons.
Any pictures to share? Would be curious to see how close of a match it is.
It's already been shown the new British Old Tanker was also used by the Japanese, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other new British merchants also were used by Japan.
War Melody in game:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/LukeFF/SH4/SH4Img2008-03-14_141906_906.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o222/tatersw/Shipping/tosei_maru.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o222/tatersw/Shipping/ryuun_maru.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o222/tatersw/Shipping/Lima_Maru.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o222/tatersw/Shipping/Kinryu_maru.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o222/tatersw/Shipping/Bordeaux_maru.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o222/tatersw/Shipping/Argun_Maru.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o222/tatersw/Shipping/Ada.jpg
There are a few :)
tater
Thanks!
The last picture (esp. of Syoto Maru) shows them to be almost the same. Looks like Japan used a lot of freighters originally constructed in Great Britain.
AkbarGulag
03-17-08, 02:22 AM
What needs to be tidied up on the war melody for the conversion Tater?
Nice find btw ;)
Ducimus
03-17-08, 02:54 AM
tagging post for later reference.
Thanks tater.
elanaiba
03-17-08, 05:33 AM
Due to some unfortunate (but in the end, good) circumstances, all new merchants have SOME connection to Japanese shipping ;)
for example, read this:
http://stonebooks.com/archives/030622.shtml
http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/WWIStandardShipsWarJ.html
War Melody -> RYUUN MARU
Page 183 in ONI 208-J as posted below by tater.
Ducimus, all that is needed is to add them to the japanese roster. Anyone who feels like typing can always use the names in ONI-208J to doll it up.
tater
Sailor Steve
03-17-08, 10:48 AM
Ja, Japanese names list is much easier than for European merchants.
Just do it!
Or I will, when I have the time.:rotfl:
Ducimus
03-17-08, 03:30 PM
Ducimus, all that is needed is to add them to the japanese roster. Anyone who feels like typing can always use the names in ONI-208J to doll it up.
tater
Yeah i know. I was working on something else at the time.
Ja, Japanese names list is much easier than for European merchants.
Just do it!
Or I will, when I have the time.:rotfl:
I have seriously thought about changing all the merchant names to their Maru designation. I keep bouncing back and forth on that, can't make up my mind.
I know you know about the Roster, Ducimus, I was stating it explicitly for others who might be reading but not know. No implication of cluelessness meant :D Was trying to keep the education al level high, hehe.
ONI listed them as XXXXX Maru. The exception was ships like Ada, that you see in my image above. If it was captured, ONI kept its Western name.
Another more complicated idea is to BP clone a few of them, and give them different tonnages. The problem with that is rec manual clutter. The only way around that is to make up a new Type in Names, but then you need to add the ships to all the merchant layers.
tater
Due to some unfortunate (but in the end, good) circumstances, all new merchants have SOME connection to Japanese shipping ;)
for example, read this:
http://stonebooks.com/archives/030622.shtml
http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/WWIStandardShipsWarJ.html
War Melody -> RYUUN MARU
Page 183 in ONI 208-J as posted below by tater.
Cool! So that makes two merchants one can add to the Japanese roster. What about the Hog Island and Express merchants? Either of those types used by Japan?
Ducimus
03-17-08, 05:33 PM
>>Another more complicated idea is to BP clone a few of them, and give them different tonnages.
I "BP cloned" all three of them this morning. :rotfl: (wanted to specify JP deck items) If all you want is varying tonnage, you can specify that in the ships CFG file. No two instances of the same ship will be the same tonnage.
I've been meaning to buy that ugly duckilings book for ages. It was one of the rare books I got a cancelation on by the seller after buying it, and I never hunted it down again.
Looks like I need to try Abe
elanaiba
03-18-08, 06:06 AM
Cool! So that makes two merchants one can add to the Japanese roster. What about the Hog Island and Express merchants? Either of those types used by Japan?
The Hog Island has some connection (IIRC - lots of old ships and lots of history behind them) but the Express passenger freighters don't:
http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/washingtonexpr.html
http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/californiaexpress.html
http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/oregonexpress.html
The japanese had nothing that looked like the Express:
http://members.spinn.net/~merrick/Stuff/Ship_ID_1.jpg
Express is a Type 27 (unless she has a counter stern, can't tell from the images, then she's a 28). The japanese had ZERO of either type in their merchant marine.
Note that the japanese had zero Type 41 or 42 ships, either (similar but split superstructure).
tater
The Hog Island has some connection (IIRC - lots of old ships and lots of history behind them) but the Express passenger freighters don't:
http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/washingtonexpr.html
http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/californiaexpress.html
http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/oregonexpress.html
Yep, I found that link, too for the Express ships. Very nice page.
Still trying to find something on the Hog Island ships in Japanese use, but can't find anything.
Hog Islands look to be raised 1-2-3 splits. The japs had quite a few in that category (mostly Type 38 (counter stern)). The problem is that large majority have a very different silhouette, even if MFM. The hull bulwarks on the japanese built ships are almost always higher at the bow and stern, sloping down to the island.
http://members.spinn.net/~merrick/Stuff/38MFM.jpg
That's a typical example.
Ducimus
03-18-08, 04:24 PM
:hmm:
http://www.ducimus.net/sh4/preview/jp_hog_a.jpg
Mav87th
03-07-09, 08:23 AM
I agree that the War Melody type is Ryuun Maru
The Hog Islander types in Japanese service was named Nannei Maru and Tokai Maru.
The last one is on page 245 in ONI-208-J while i have not found Nannei Maru yet. Its listed in the alphabetic list in the same ONI, but does not have a page number or is nor to be found in the manual.
Nannei Maru should have been build in 1923 at 2486 GRT and a lenght of 296 ft. But i find a lot of conflicting info on that online.....
ex. this list from http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwone/aisc.htm shows it to have been build in 1920 and named Manataway with a GRT of 5500. Allso this is spelled Nanei (one n).
1533 1533 Casagrande/Manataway US Shipping Board Cargo Ship 5,500 23-Sep-20 Later Nanei Maru 1942, torpedoed and lost 1944
Mav87th
03-08-09, 04:41 AM
Another problem boat is the Akita Maru - the SH4 Akita Maru is not the real Akita Maru.......
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2023/akitamarugame.jpg
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9541/akitamaruoni.jpg
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/8721/akitamaruonilinedraw.jpg
As you can see then at least the funnel is all wrong.
Punt for my own nefarious purposes. Ada Maru needs goalposts...
Oh, and war melody can have the olive color switched out, and still keep the disruptive paint. :)
War Melody is actually "Akasi Maru." ONI-208J has a specific entry, and mentioned them as WW1 types with the prefix "War."
Looking eve at captures that might be hog islander---or even similar. Estero/Victorlock look close (ONI 208J pg 224)
GerritJ9
09-04-10, 11:07 AM
Not quite- "War Melody" was a type N standard British freighter of about 6,500 tons, becoming "Ryuun Maru" in 1937, "Nikkyu Maru" in 1942. "Akasi Maru", on the other hand, was a type C standard British freighter of about 3,000 tons, originally named "War Simoom". The basic design was probably similar, but physically the type C was smaller; for N overall length 428ft, beam 55.5ft vs. overall length 342ft, beam 46.5ft for the Cs.
Yeah, I realized I was wrong when I posted this elsewhere. Partially, I was looking at the SH4 model, and it's a little off :)
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