| SS Rakuyo Maru | |
|---|---|
| Career | |
| Name: | Rakuyo Maru |
| Owner: | Nippon Yusen Kisen Kaisha |
| Port of registry: | Tokyo |
| Builder: | Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Company, Nagasaki |
| Fate: | Torpedoed and sunk: 12 Sept 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 9,419 gross register tons (GRT) |
| Length: | 460 feet (140 m)[1] |
| Beam: | 60 feet (18 m) |
| Draught: | 40.5 feet (12.3 m) |
| Installed power: | 1153 nhp |
| Propulsion: | Steam turbines, twin screw |
| Speed: | 16.5 knots |
SS Rakuyo Maru (楽洋丸) was a passenger cargo ship built in 1921 by the Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Nagasaki for Nippon Yusen Kisen Kaisha.
Service history[]
The troopship was part of Convoy HI-72 and transporting 1317 Australian and British prisoners of war (POWs) from Singapore, when it was torpedoed and sunk in the Luzon Strait by USS Sealion on 12 September 1944. A total of 1159 POWs died as a result of the sinking. On 15 September, the Sealion and other submarines who had participated in the attack returned to the area and rescued 63 surviving POWs; four died before they could be landed at Tanapag Harbor, Saipan, in the Mariana Islands.[2]
References[]
- ↑ "Lloyd's Register 1942-43". plimsollshipdata. http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/pdffile.php?name=42b0725.pdf. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ↑ "Sealion". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History & Heritage Command. http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/submar/ss315.txt. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
The original article can be found at SS Rakuyo Maru and the edit history here.