SS Shinyō Maru

SS Shinyō Maru was a Japanese cargo-steamer and hellship sunk during the Second World War. She was originally named the SS Clan Mackay and was built by the Naval Construction & Armaments Company, Barrow-in-Furness for the Clan Line. She sailed with them until sold in 1913 to the Adelaide Steamship Company, which renamed her Ceduna. She was then sold, in 1924, to a company in Shanghai which renamed her Tung Tuck. In 1937, she was renamed Chang Teh, and was sold to Greece later that year. She sailed for her new owners under the name Pananis, until seized by the Japanese at Shanghai in 1941 and renamed Shinyō Maru.

For the earlier passenger liner, see SS Shinyō Maru (1911).
History
Name:
  • Clan Mackay (1894-1913)
  • Ceduna (1913-1924)
  • Tung Tuck (1924-1937)
  • Chang Teh (1937)
  • Pananis (1937-1941)
  • Shinyō Maru (1941-1944)
Operator:
Builder: Naval Construction & Armaments Company, Barrow-in-Furness
Launched: 31 October 1894
Fate: Sunk on 7 September 1944
General characteristics
Class and type: Cargo steamer
Tonnage: 2,634 gross register tons (GRT)
Length: 84.9 m (279 ft)
Beam: 12 m (39 ft)
Propulsion: Triple expansion engine
Speed: 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h)
Crew: 52
Notes: Steel construction

Sinking

The Allies intercepted a message about Shinyō Maru and, thinking it was carrying enemy soldiers, USS Paddle attacked it on September 7, 1944, off the coast of Mindanao. There were 750 American prisoners of war (POWs) aboard. Some Japanese guards shot prisoners as they struggled from the holds or were in the water;[1] 688 died when the ship sank, leaving only 82 survivors;[2] 47 of 52 Japanese guards died.[3]

A December 1944 annotation in US military records indicates an intelligence failure helped contribute to the mistargeting of the Japanese transport ship filled with US POWs by the US submarine. "[A] note was added to the message of September 6 that Fleet Radio Unit Pacific (FRUPAC) interpreted as "SHINYOO MARU (750 troops for Manila via Cebu." In pencil was written: "FRUEF [Fleet Radio Unit Eastern Fleet] (31 Dec '44) gets 750 Ps/W"! FRUPAC misinterpreted this crucial part of the message with fatal consequences."[1]

On September 7, 2000, 14 survivors gathered at Jacksonville Naval Air Station for the eighth, and final, formal survivors reunion.[4]

See also

References
  1. American POWs on Japanese Ships Take a Voyage into Hell. The Shinyō Maru: An Explosion, and Survival, for Some POWs, Prologue Magazine, Winter 2003, Vol. 35, No. 4. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  2. Roster of Allied Prisoners of War believed aboard Shinyō Maru when torpedoed and sunk 7 September 1944, 82 survivors 667 deaths. Source dated 2006. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  3. 船舶輸送艦における遭難部隊資料（陸軍） - IJA report about military transport ship losses in WW2
  4. Hell ship survivors embrace 'miracle'. The Florida Times-Union, 8 September 2000, accessed 1 January 2011.

Further reading
  • John J. Morrett, Soldier-Priest (1993). Also see
  • Victor Mapes, The Butchers, the Baker: The World War II Memoir of a United States Army Air Corps Soldier Captured by the Japanese in the Philippines (2000)
  • Charles Vance Claybourn, The Claybourn Genealogical Society

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