History | |
---|---|
Empire of Japan | |
Name | Suzuya Maru |
Namesake | Suzuya River |
Builder | Mitsui Tamano Engineering & Shipbuilding, Tamano |
Yard number | 77 |
Laid down | 30 May 1922 |
Launched | 2 September 1922 |
Sponsored by | Kita Nippon Kisen K.K. |
Completed | 30 September 1922 |
Acquired | Requisitioned by Imperial Japanese Navy, 1925 |
Homeport | Otaru |
Identification | 22520 |
Fate | Torpedoed and sunk by USS Guardfish off New Ireland, 13 June 1943 |
Notes |
|
General characteristics | |
Type | Passenger/cargo ship |
Tonnage | 864 GRT [1] |
Length | 56.39 m (185 ft 0 in) o/a [1] |
Beam | 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in) [1] |
Draught | 5.94 m (19 ft 6 in) [1] |
Installed power | 600 bhp [2] |
Propulsion | 1 triple expansion engine, single shaft, 1 screw [2] |
Speed | 11 knots [2] |
Suzuya Maru (Japanese: 鈴谷丸) was an auxiliary transport and hell ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
She was laid down on 30 May 1922 by Mitsui Tamano Engineering & Shipbuilding at their Tamano shipyard at the behest of Kita Nippon Kisen K.K./Kitanihon Kisen. [1] [2] She was launched on 2 September 1922, completed on 30 September 1922, and registered in Otaru as Hokkai Maru No. 1 but had her name changed in 1924 to Suzuya Maru (after the Suzuya River in Karafuto Prefecture on Sakhalin Island, then part of Japan). [3] Her sister ship was Hokkai Maru No. 2 (renamed Hayataka Maru). [3] In 1925, she was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy. [2] Little is known of her service and she seemed to have lost her original name generally being referred to as No. 107 or Otaru Maru, Otari Maru, or Otaro Maru. [3] On 15 August 1942, she took 179 prisoners of wars (POWs) at the port of Takao who had arrived aboard Nagara Maru. [3] [4] The POWs were all American senior civilian and military authorities of the Philippines [5] and included Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright, Commander of Allied forces in the Philippines, and Major General Edward P. King [3] who lead the defense of the Bataan Peninsula in the Battle of Bataan. She delivered the prisoners to the Karenko POW camp [3] on the west coast of Formosa.
On 13 June 1943, Suzuya Maru was torpedoed and sunk by the US submarine USS Guardfish off the southwest coast of New Ireland ( 03°08′S 151°24′E / 3.133°S 151.400°E). [3] [6] [7]