The Sinking of the Tsushima Maru

Greetings PHG readers, today we're marking an auspicious event in history; the sinking of the Tsushima Maru on 22 August, 1944.

The Tsushima Maru 対馬丸 was a cargo ship built for Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) by Russel and Co., Scotland in 1914. The ship was launched in December of that year and transported cargo and people between Japan and New York, calling at Shanghai, Hong Kong, Calcutta, and Port Said. Requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1941, she was assigned to transport duty between Japan and the Netherlands East Indies, serving throughout the Western Pacific in Taiwan and the Philippines. In time this would be expanded to Korea, the Marianas, and China.

Tsushima Maru

To get an idea of how much cargo and personnel Tsushima Maru could carry, consider this entry from the tabular record of movement (TROM) from CombinedFleet.com:

"3 March 1944:

At 0400, TSUSHIMA MARU departs Pusan. She carries the IJA 8th Expeditionary Unit, 2nd Independent Garrison Headquarters, Korea Army 3rd Battalion, 73rd Infantry, 19th Division,3rd Battalion, 75th Infantry, 19th Division,3rd Battalion, 76th Infantry, 19th Division, 3rd Battalion, 25th Mountain Artillery, 19th Division, 3rd Company, 19th Engineers, 19th Division,Headquarters, 2nd Battalion, 25th AAA Regiment, 5th Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th AAA Regiment and 9th Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th AAA Regiment"

The ship served in this way, criss-crossing the Pacific to support the floundering Japanese war effort through summer 1944. Inport Naha, Okinawa on the 19th of August, Tsushima Maru took 1,788 evacuees onboard in preparation for the (rightfully) predicted Allied invasion of the island. Among these were 826 schoolchildren. Departing on the 21st, she headed north through the Ryukyu Islands in convoy with three other ships including two armed escorts. She had no markings that would identify her as a transport carring evacuees.

The night of the 22nd August 1944, Tsushima Maru was sighted and fired on by USS Bowfin, a Gato-class submarine, near Akusekijima around 10 PM. The ship sank quickly; none of the escorts came to the aid of the survivors in the water. Only 59 children survived the ordeal, they were quickly hidden away and the matter was kept under wraps throughout the rest of war.

The history of the Pacific Theater in the Second World War could be studied through the lens of the U.S. Navy's unrestricted submarine warfare, and the abuse of transport ships by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Tsushima Maru is just one of thousands of ships sunk in the conflict, many of which carried women and children trying to escape. The Amerika Maru, for example, was sunk while attempting to evacuate civilians from Saipan to Japan, went down with the loss of 468 non-combatant personnel.

Tsushima Maru Museum, Okinawa

The sinking of the Tsushima Maru is a topic of debate and study in Japan today; the wreck was found in 1997 and work is ongoing to identiy the victims of this disaster. Naha hosts a museum to the Tsushima Maru, with pictures of every identified victim. The Bowfin sits in honor in Pearl Harbor, near the Arizona and Missouri. If you've been to these powerful and important monuments, please let us know in the comments.

Looking forward to exploring with you,

Tony