She served with the 5th Fleet and was sunk by United States Army Air Forces bombers during the Japanese occupation of Kiska in the Aleutian Islands Campaign.

The ship was powered by two oil-burning Hitachi steam turbines double reduction geared to one screw shaft rated at 500 NHP.

[3] On 19 July 1939, while steaming down the Huangpu River at Shanghai, she suffered a twisted bow after colliding with the SS President Coolidge while the latter was tied up at a pier.

[4] On 9 September 1941, as Japan prepared to enter World War II, Nissan Maru was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy.

On 5 May Nissan Maru was assigned to the operation for the seizure of Attu and Kiska; Naotsuka was relieved by Captain Ishii Saburo on 15 May.

[5]: 6  The wreck of the Nissan Maru was identified and filmed by the National Park Service's Submerged Cultural Resources Unit after the program began in 1989.