Ōryoku Maru

1944

The worst American POW atrocity at sea Location: Subic Bay, Philippines · Coordinates: 14.67°N 120.27°E · Casualties: ~1,280 (across three ships) · Survivors: ~350 · Depth: 20 m · Cause: aerial attack — Bombed and strafed by U.S. Navy aircraft from USS Hornet (CV-12) on 14 and 15 December 1944 while carrying 1,620 American POWs in her holds from Manila. Sunk in Subic Bay after the second day of attacks. Surviving POWs were transferred to Enoura Maru and Brazil Maru; both were subsequently attacked by Allied aircraft. · Fate: Subic Bay · war grave · Type: hellship · passenger-cargo · Tonnage: 7,363 tons · Flag: Empire of Japan · Launched: 1937 Japanese cargo ship converted to prisoner transport, sailing from Manila with 1,620 American POWs in her holds. Attacked by U.S. Navy aircraft over four days from 14 December 1944; POWs suffocated in the holds between bombings, packed without water in temperatures that drove men mad. Survivors transferred to Enoura Maru and Brazil Maru, both of which were also attacked. Of 1,620 POWs aboard at Manila, fewer than 400 survived to liberation; the worst American POW atrocity of the Pacific War. The Vessel The Ōryoku Maru was a Japanese passenger-cargo liner of the Nippon Yūsen Kaisha (NYK) Line, built at the Nagasaki yard of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1937 and commissioned for the Japan-to-Taiwan passenger service. She was 136 metres long, 7,362 gross tons, and powered by twin diesel engines producing approximately 6,400 horsepower. Her original peacetime accommodation was approximately 150 first-class and 1,000 steerage passengers. From 1941 she was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Army for wartime transport service. Her initial military role was the transport of Japanese military personnel and supplies between Japan and its occupied Asian territories; from 1944, her role was expanded to include the transport of Allied prisoners of war from the Philippines to Japan for forced labour on the Japanese home-islands construction projects. The Japanese military's policy regarding prisoner transport vessels was, by 1944, substantially compromised by the deteriorating wartime situation. The standard arrangement for prisoner transport - clearly marked as Red Cross protected vessels under the 1929 Geneva Convention - had been abandoned by the Japanese military administration as the war progressed; prisoner transport vessels were being used simultaneously as military transport and as war-matériel carriers, making Red Cross markings inappropriate under international law. Her master on her final voyage was Captain Shin Kajiyama, 46, a Japanese merchant marine officer. Her co The Disaster At approximately 08:30 on 14 December 1944, the Ōryoku Maru was attacked by carrier-based aircraft from the US Navy carrier USS Hornet. The attack was conducted by approximately 12 SB2C Helldiver and F6F Hellcat aircraft in two successive waves between 08:30 and 11:00 on 14 December 1944. The first attack wave at 08:30 damaged the ship's engine room and reduced her speed to approximately 4 knots; the second attack wave at approximately 11:00 delivered additional damage including fragmentation hits to the aft hold (which killed approximately 50 prisoners in the hold) and a direct hit to the ship's bridge. Captain Kajiyama was killed in the bridge hit. The Ōryoku Maru was substantially disabled after the 11:00 attack but remained afloat. She was beached near Olongapo Bay in the western Philippines for emergency repairs. The prisoners below decks, however, remained in extreme distress: the attack damage had exacerbated the ventilation failures; temperature in the holds had risen further; dehydration and panic were escalating. The specific atrocity of the subsequent incident occurred during the beaching period on 14 December 1944. Japanese crew and guards denied prisoners access to water, food, and medical care; multiple prisoners attempted to escape the holds through the damaged hatches and were shot by Japanese guards; a general breakdown of order occurred in the holds with multiple prisoner deaths due to heat stroke, dehydration, assault by panicking fellow prisoners, and summ