June 29, 1944: The Japanese transport ship Toyama Maru was sunk by the USS Sturgeon. The 7,089 ton ship had been used by the Japanese to move prisoners from the outlying islands to Japan. The POW's, those who survived the war, called them"hell ships". The Toyama Maru had taken had taken over 500 Canadian POW's from Takao,  Formosa to Japan to be used as slave labor in Dec. 1943. However on this trip the passengers were members of the Japanese 44th Independent Mixed Brigade. They were heading to Okinawa to reinforce the Japanese held island from the upcoming US invasion. When the torpedoes hit over 6,000 people were onboard. When the fish from the USS Sturgeon hit, thousands of gallons of gasoline in the hold of the ship 
exploded, turning the Toyama Maru into a flaming coffin. The ship, the gasoline bound for the defense of Okinawa and 5,400 Japanese troops went to the bottom.