''Lima Maru'' was a 6,989-ton Japanese
troop transport
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
World War II, which sank on 8 February 1944 with great loss of life.
The ''Lima Maru'' was built in 1920 by the
Mitsubishi Zosen Kaisha in Nagasaki for the
Nippon Yusen shipping company.
On 8 February 1944, as part of convoy MOTA-02, she was transporting around 2,900 men of the Japanese 19th Brigade from Moji to Takao. The Lima Maru was torpedoed and sunk by the US submarine some 30 miles south east of the
Goto Archipelago at position 31°05´N, 127°37´E.
The ''Lima Maru'' exploded and sank very fast. Fewer than 150 soldiers survived.
See also
*
List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines
*
List of battles and other violent events by death toll
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lima Maru
World War II merchant ships of Japan
Ships sunk by American submarines
Maritime incidents in February 1944
Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
1920 ships
World War II shipwrecks in the East China Sea