The was a Japanese cargo ship owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Tokyo. The ship was entered service in 1937. The name ''Nagata Maru'' derives from

Nagata jinja is a Shinto shrine in Nagata-ku, Kobe, Japan. At Nagata, Kotoshironushi-no-Okami is enshrined.Kobe Convention and Visitors Association Nagata Jinja Shrine/ref> The shrine is associated with Amaterasu, who is said to have told Empress Jingū th ...

, a

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

in Nagata Ward, Kobe, Japan.Richard, Ponsonby-Fane. (1964) '' Visiting Famous Shrines in Japan,'' pp. 324-328; from 1871 through 1946, the Nagata Shrine stood in the second tier of government supported shrines which were especially venerated by the imperial family.

History

Nagata maru was the name of several Japanese vessels. In 1900,

Fujinagata Shipyards was a shipyard and railroad car manufacturer in Osaka, Japan. History Fujinagata claimed to have been founded in 1689, making it one of the oldest shipbuilders in Japan. Originally called ''Hyōgo-ya'', and located in central Osaka, it was cont ...

completed its first all-metal construction merchant vessel; the No.2 ''Nagata Maru''.

List of ships named ''Nagata Maru''

* ''Nagata Maru'' No. 1 * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 2 * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 3 * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 4 * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 5 * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 6 * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 7 * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 8Lloyd's. (1907). * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 9 * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 10 * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 11 * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 12 * ''Nagata Maru'' No. 13 * ''Nagata Maru'' (1937)

Pacific War

In 1939, ''Nagata Maru'' was commandeered by the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...

for use as a

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

. During the

Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands The Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands was the period in the history of Kiribati between 1941 and 1945 when Imperial Japanese forces occupied the Gilbert Islands during World War II, in the Pacific War theatre. From 1941 to 1943, Impe ...

, she installed within 2 days the seaplane base in Makin lagoon. In transporting Allied prisoners, it was amongst those vessels which earned the epithet "

hell ship A hell ship is a ship with extremely inhumane living conditions or with a reputation for cruelty among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army to transport Allied prisoners o ...

s." On 22 April 1944, ''Nagata Maru'' was part of a Singapore-to-Saigon convoy anchored off Cape St. Jacques in French Indochina. The ship was bombed and sunk.

Notes

References

* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1964). ''Visiting Famous Shrines in Japan.'' Kyoto: Ponsonby-Fane Memorial Society.

External links

* Ship's List
Ships of Nippon Yusen Kaisha K.K
1937 ships Ships of the NYK Line Nagata Maru World War II merchant ships of Japan Ships sunk by aircraft World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Japanese hell ships {{ship-stub