Hozu was a river gunboat, named for the Hozu River, and the third of the four Seta-class boats. Her sisters were Seta, Katata, and Hira. One officer list files the type under Hira’s name instead of Seta’s. Mitsubishi at Kobe laid her down on 15 August 1921. The launch is two dates. The officer list says 19 April 1922. The usual ship account says 9 April 1923. She was finished in Japan, taken apart, and shipped out to be put back together for the Yangtze. The officer list calls 7 November 1923 her completion. The ship account says she left in sections on 11 November 1923 and that the reassembly was finished on 1 December. She spent her life on the river, in the 11th Gunboat Sentai and later with the China-area forces.
The command list before 1937 is full of gaps, and those names are not filed. Mitsuharu Ueda had her from 1 March 1937 to 1 March 1938. He is the same officer who later had Tenryu. On 13 August 1937 she was with other navy ships firing on Chinese positions at Shanghai. On 13 December, as Japanese troops entered Nanjing, she fired on positions at Xiaguan and on boats and rafts on the river. Kyozo Ohashi had her from 1 March 1938 to 15 November 1938, and Yasushi Kawano from that day until 15 October 1940. The next named captain does not start until 20 June 1943. The characters of his name and the reading printed beside them do not agree, so he is not filed. His tour in that list runs through the day she was lost.
The loss is two dates, both near Anking. The officer list says Chinese aircraft sank her on 26 November 1944, at 30°30′N, 117°00′E. The other account says that on 5 December 1944 she and Hira ran aground near Anking, Chinese aircraft bombed them, Hira was damaged, and Hozu was sunk. The wreck was scrapped in 1945. She was struck on 10 May 1945. Both accounts agree on that day. No gun count is given here. The lists do not agree on a fit that can be checked against this hull.