Asama Maru - Pacific War

Pacific War

Before Japan's entry into the Second World War she was intercepted by the Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Liverpool 35 miles (56 km) from the coast of Niijima on January 21, 1940. Alerted to reports that Axis sailors in the United States were preparing to arrange transport to Germany, the British Government had authorised the C-in-C, China Station to direct a warship to detain certain passengers providing the coast of Japan was not within sight. The Liverpool removed 21 of the ship's passengers believed to be survivors of the scuttled German liner Columbus. The Government of Japan condemned it as an abuse of belligerent rights and formally protested the action, which further escalated tensions between the two countries.

In 1941 the ship became a troopship for the Imperial Japanese Navy.

In the summer of 1942, it was used in the repatriation of the prewar diplomatic staffs of Japan and the Allied nations, the exchange taking place at what is now Maputo.

In transporting Allied prisoners, it was amongst those vessels which earned the epithet "hell ships."

On November 1, 1944, Asama Maru was torpedoed and sunk by the US submarine USS Atule in the South China Sea 100 miles (160 km) south of the island of Pratas.