| History | |
|---|---|
 Empire of Japan | |
| Name | Tamahoko Maru |
| Owner | Kaiyo Kisen K. K. |
| Builder | Harima Dock Company |
| Launched | 1919 |
| Completed | March 1919 |
| In service | 1919 |
| Out of service | 1944 |
| Fate | Sunk, 24 June 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger-cargo ship |
| Tonnage | 6,780 tons[1] |
| Length | 129.5 m (424 ft 10 in) |
| Beam | 17.7 m (58 ft 1 in) |
| Draught | 8.84 m (29 ft 0 in) |
| Speed | 13.2knots (24.4 km/h; 15.2 mph) |
SSTamahoko Maru was a Japanese passenger-cargo ship, used as ahell ship, which was torpedoed by submarineUSS Tang on 24 June 1944, carrying 772Alliedprisoners of war of which 560 died.
Tamahoko Maru sailed on 20 June 1944 with 772prisoners of war (POWs) (197 British, 42 American, 258 Australian and 281 Dutch) fromTakao forMoji in convoy HO-02. There were also some 500 Japanese soldiers on board. On 24 June 1944 at 11:50 pm, in the Koshiki Straits 40 miles (64 km) southwest ofNagasaki,Tamahoko Maru was torpedoed byUSS Tang and sank in less than two minutes at32°24′N129°38′E / 32.400°N 129.633°E /32.400; 129.633.[2]
An escort picked up the Japanese survivors and left the POWs in the water, to be picked up the next morning by a smallwhaling ship, which brought 212 survivors to Nagasaki. They spent the rest of the war in theFukuoka 14 prison camp. The other 560 POWs, 35 crewmen and an unknown number of Japanese soldiers were lost.[3]
