Asama Maru (1929)

Owner:
Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line)
Yokohama, Japan

Builder:
Mitsubishi Shipbuilding &
Engineering Company
Nagasaki, Japan
Ordered:
N/A
Keel Laid:
N/A
Year Built:
1929
Launched:
N/A
Sister Ships:
Tatsuta Maru / Chichibu Maru
Maiden Voyage:
October 11, 1929
Fate:
Sunk Nov. 1, 1944 by USS Atule SS-403. (torpedo)

Location: South China Sea 267 miles south east of Hong Kong.
(20.09N - 117.38E)

440 people killed, about 790 survivors.


Dimensions, machinery and performance

Length:
584'
Engines:
4 Sulzer 8ST687 diesel
Beam:
72'
Boilers:
N/A
Draft:
28' 5"
Shafts:
2
Gross Tons:
16,975
HP:
N/A
Displacement:
N/A
Speed:
17 normal / 20 max.
Crew:
330
Funnels:
2
Passengers:
882
Masts:
2


History:
Oct. 11, 1929:
Maiden voyage Yokohama - Honolulu - San Francisco.
Sept. 2, 1937:
Driven ashore in a typhoon at Hong Kong, received only minor damage.
Jan. 21, 1940:
Stopped and boarded by HMS Liverpool 25 miles off Nojima Zaki, Honshu, Japan
Aprox. position 39.24N - 142.25E.
21 Germans were forcibly removed from the ship, 12 had been on the Columbus which
was scuttled Dec. 19, 1939 and were thought to be en route to Japan to help service
U-boats and commerce raiders (Hilfskreuzers) the other 9 were later released.

1941:
Taken over by the Japanese government for use as a transport.
June 29, 1941:
Sailed to Batavia (Jakarta), Indonesia under German charter to pick up German and Italian
citizens who had been detained since the Netherlands were invaded.

Nov. 6, 1941:
Removed aprox. 450 Japanese civilians from Singapore.
June 25, 1942:
Departed Yokohama, Japan with Tatsuta Maru & Kamakura Maru for Mozambique, Africa,
there they met with the Swedish ship Gripsholm and exchanged diplomats and citizens
who had been trapped overseas when the war broke out. She returned to Yokohama on
Aug. 20.

Oct. 10, 1942:
Departed Makassar, Celebes with 1,000 allied POW's, arrived at Nagasaki, Japan on
Oct. 23.

Nov. 1, 1942:
Departed Wake Island with 20 allied POW's, arrived at Yokohama, Japan Nov. 6.
Sept. 21, 1943:
Departed Singapore with 71 allied POW's, arrived Moji, Japan on Oct. 9.
Feb. 24, 1944:
Damaged by torpedo from USS Grayback SS-208 in the East China Sea, 50 miles northwest
of Hua-Lien, Formosa (Taiwan) (24.15N - 122.19E), casualties unknown.

Nov. 1, 1944:
Sunk by USS Atule SS-403.


Builder's Data
Page published Dec. 27, 2007