List of Japanese hell ships

This list of Japanese hell ships encompasses those vessels used for transporting Allied prisoners of war during the Pacific War.

Select list[]

The names of the Japanese hell ships used during World War II includes some variants which are different names referring to the same ship.

• Aikoku Maru
• Aki Maru (Japanese Kyūjitai: 安藝丸, Shinjitai: 安芸丸)^[1]
• Akikase – on 18 March 1943, all 60 POWs on board were executed.
• Akitzuki^[2]
• ^[3]
• Aramis (aka Teia Maru)
• Argentina Maru^[4]
• Arisan Maru – sunk by USS Snook 24 October 1944.^[5] 1,777 US POWs killed.
• - left Keppel Harbour, Singapore, on 4 July 1944. Wrecked in a storm between Luzon and Formosa. Survivors were rescued by two Japanese navy destroyers, and boarded the Hakusan Maru which arrived in Moji, Kyushu, on 28 August 1944. According to the personal account of a British soldier who was on this voyage, the Asaka Maru was old and built in Glasgow.^{[citation needed]}
• Asama Maru – sunk by USS Atule 1 November 1944. No POWs on board. ^≠
• Awa Maru^≠ – sunk by USS Queenfish 1 April 1945. No POWs on board.
• Brazil Maru^‡ – bombed 15 December 1944. No POWs on board.
• Buyo Maru
• ^[6]
• Chichibu Maru – sunk by USS Gudgeon 28 April 1943. No POWs on board.
• ^‡
• Chuyo – sunk by USS Sailfish 4 December 1943. 20 of the 21 POWs on board died.
• ^[7]
• ^[8]
• ^[9]
• Enoura Maru – sunk by Allied aircraft on 9 January 1945, resulting in the deaths of approximately 400 Allied POWs.^[10]
• ^[11]
• ^‡
• Hakusan Maru – sunk by USS Flier 4 June 1944. No POWs on board.
• (治菊丸, Ex-Dutch Ship Van Waerwijck)^[12] – sunk by HMS Truculent 26 June 1944, 180 of 720 POWs and 27 of 55 Japanese troops killed
• Hawaii Maru (はわい丸, Hawai Maru)^[13]
• Hofuku Maru – sunk on 21 September 1944 by American aircraft, while carrying 1,289 British and Dutch POWs. 1,047 of them died.
• (北鮮丸)
• ^[14]
• – sunk on 21 January 1944 by USS Seahorse . 418 of 611 Indian POWs on board were killed.
• Imabari Maru (ex-De Klerk)
• Junyō Maru – torpedoed 18 November 1944 with loss of over 5,000 lives, including 1,300 POWs
• Kachidoki Maru – sunk by Pampanito on 12 September 1944. Of 900 POWs, 400 perished. The remaining were transferred to the Kibitsu Maru and taken on to Japan
• Kamakura Maru – sunk by USS Gudgeon on 28 April 1943. No POWs on board.
• (乾坤丸)
• – sunk by USS Ray on 4 August 1944. 1,239 out of 1,513 POWs, most of them Javanese labourers, died.^‡
• ^[15]
• Lima Maru^≠
• Lisbon Maru (りすぼん丸, Risubon Maru)^≠ – sunk by Grouper on 2 October 1944. Of the 1,816 British POWs, 842 perished.
• (前橋丸, Maebashi Maru)
• (5)
• (8)
• (1)
• (2)
• (3)
• (4)
• (7)
• ^‡
• Montevideo Maru (もんてびでお丸, Montebideo Maru) – sunk by Sturgeon on 1 July 1942. all 1,054 Australian POWs and civilians died.
• ^[16]
• Nagata Maru
• Naruto Maru
• – Sunk on 15 January 1943 by US aircraft, transporting 1,500 Japanese troops and 965 Dutch POWs of which 32 POWs died.
• Nitta Maru^≠
• Yoshida Maru No. 1^≠
• No. 2 Hikawa Maru ^≠
• No. 6
• No. 7
• No. 17
• ^[17]
• Oite
• SS Op ten Noort ( Tenno Maru - Hikawa Maru No.2)
• Oryoku Maru – sunk by U.S. airplanes on 15 December 1944, killing 270 of the 1,620 POWs on board.^[5]
• ^[18]
• Rakuyo Maru – sunk by USS Sealion on 12 September 1944. Of 1,317 POWs, 1,159 POWs perished. 63 were rescued four days later by the submarines that sank the convoy she was in
• (羅津丸)
• ^‡
• ^‡
• ^‡
• (ex-Canadian Inventor)
• Shinyō Maru – sunk on 7 September 1944 by USS Paddle. 668 out of 750 American POWs on board were killed.^[5]
• – damaged on 25 October 1942 by Dutch submarine HNLMS O 23 and abandoned. Some 100 out of 500 POWs drowned.
• – left Batavia in Java 17 October 1942 with 3,000 British prisoners, arrived Moji, Japan, (via Singapore) 25 November 1942, 108 died on the journey.
• Suez Maru – sunk on 29 November 1943 by USS Bonefish. All 548 British and Dutch POWs drowned or were shot trying to escape.
• Suzuya Maru (ex-Hokkai Maru No. 1 also colloquially known as No. 107 or Otaru, Otari, or Otaro Maru)^[19][20]
• ^[21]
• Tamahoko Maru – sunk on 25 February 1944 by USS Tang. 560 of the 772 Australian, British, American and Dutch prisoners were killed.
• Tango Maru (ex-Rendsburg, ex-Toendjoek) – sunk on 25 February 1944 by USS Rasher. Some 300 allied POWs were amongst the 3,000 killed.
• , colloquially known as No. 86^[22]
• Tatsuta Maru^≠
• Teia Maru (帝亞丸・帝亜丸)
• Teiryu Maru (ex-Northwestern Miller, ex-Augsberg), colloquially known as No. 824^[22]
• ^[23]
• Tofuku Maru
• Toko Maru
• Toyama Maru
• Un'yō
• ^[24]
• ^[25]
• Yoshida Maru^≠ – sunk on 18 January 1944 by USS Flasher.
• ^[26]

_______________

See also[]

• Prisoner-of-war camp
• List of POW camps in Japan

Notes[]

References[]

• Crager, Kelly E. (2008). Hell Under the Rising Sun: Texan POWs and the Building of the Burma – Thailand Death Railway. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 1585446351; ISBN 9781585446353; OCLC 145378792
• Michno, Gregory. (2001). Death on the Hellships: Prisoners at Sea in the Pacific War. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1557504822; ISBN 9781557504821; OCLC 45757730
• Parkinson, James W. and Lee Benson (2006). Soldier Slaves: Abandoned by the White House, Courts, and Congress. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1591142040; ISBN 9781591142041; OCLC 63116439
• Roscoe, Theodore and Richard G Voge (1949). United States Submarine Operations in World War II. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute. OCLC 1127592

External links[]

• "Hell Ships". Britain at War. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
• "Sea transports". Japanse krijgsgevangenkampen. Retrieved October 21, 2016.