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| History | |
|---|---|
 Japan | |
| Name | Lima Maru |
| Builder | Mitsubishi Zosen Kaisha (Nagasaki) |
| Laid down | 24 October 1919 |
| Launched | 25 March 1920 |
| Acquired | 25 April 1920 |
| In service | 1920 |
| Out of service | 1944 |
| Fate | Sunk, 8 February 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Troop transport |
| Tonnage | 6,989 tons |
| Propulsion | 2 × triple-expansion engines, 5,304 hp (3,955 kW) |
| Speed | 14.6knots (27.0 km/h; 16.8 mph) |
| Range | 18,000 nmi (33,000 km; 21,000 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
Lima Maru was a 6,989-ton Japanesetroop transport duringWorld War II, which sank on 8 February 1944 with great loss of life.
Lima Maru was built in 1920 by theMitsubishi Zosen Kaisha (Mitsubishi Shipyard & Machinery Works) in Nagasaki for theNippon Yusen shipping company. After she was completed in 1920 (Taisho 9), she played an active role as the main cargo ship of Nippon Yusen for European routes.[1]
When theSecond Sino-Japanese War began,Lima Maru was used by theImperial Japanese Army from 1 September 1937 to 30 March 1938 and from 24 June 1938, to 1939 (Showa 14).[1] In 1941 (Showa 16), amid tensions between Japan and the United States, she went toLos Angeles in the United States to collectaviation gasoline and transported it to the port ofKaohsiung, which was then a Japanese territory.[2]
When Japan began preparations for war with the United States, the ship, which was already over 20 years old and classified as a dilapidated ship, was requisitioned by the Japanese Army on 13 September 1941.[1] After the outbreak of the Pacific War, on 22 December of the same year,Lima Maru belonged to the 2nd Fleet, 8th Squadron of a total of 84 convoys, including the same T-typeTajima Maru andTsushima Maru, participated in the landings atLingayen Gulf,Luzon, during theBattle of the Philippines. In 1942, she took in the army units that had finished theBattle of Hong Kong and landed them atPalembang,Sumatra. She participated in theBattle of Burma, and joined the advance toRangoon, and on the way back, towed the cargo shipAsoyama Maru, which had been wrecked in theBattle of Malaya, from Pattani to Hong Kong.[2] On 12–29 November of the same year, she transferred from Moji toRabaul. 1,234 army officers and 118 horses of the engineering corps were safely transported. In 1943, the vessel was based atManila, and acted mainly in the Philippines. On 16 March and 6 April of the same year, she encountered an enemy submarine, but she escaped by firing at it with self-defense artillery, and was commended by the army.[2]
On 8 February 1944, as part of convoy MOTA-02, she was transporting around 2,900 men of the Japanese 19th Brigade from Moji to Takao.Lima Maru was torpedoed and sunk by the US submarineUSS Snook some 30 miles (48 km) southeast of theGotō Islands at position31°05′N127°37′E / 31.083°N 127.617°E /31.083; 127.617.[3] TheLima Maru exploded and sank very fast. Fewer than 150 soldiers survived.[4]
In August 2018, Tamaki Ura, a special professor at Kyushu Institute of Technology, conducted a seafloor survey in the area where the ship was presumed to have sunk, but no hull was found. The bodies of some of the victims washed ashore on Mageshima Island (Nishinoomote City, Kagoshima Prefecture), more than 300 kilometres (190 mi) to the east, and were temporarily buried by the islanders. A bone survey by theMinistry of Health, Labor and Welfare was scheduled for late October to early November 2018.[5]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in February 1944 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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