was a
cargo steamship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
that was built in
England in 1911 and sunk off the coast of
Bali
Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
in 1944. She was launched as ''Bra-Kar'' for
Fred. Olsen & Co. of
Norway. In 1916 she changed owners and was renamed ''Havø''. In 1935 she changed owners again and was renamed ''Mabuhay II''.
In 1938
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese owners acquired the ship and renamed her ''Ryūsei Maru''. In 1944 she was serving as a
hell ship when a
United States Navy submarine torpedoed her, sinking her with the loss of between 3,000 and 5,000 lives.
This was the first of four Fred Olsen ships to be called ''Bra-Kar''. The second was a steamship built in 1920, sold in 1922, and renamed. The third was a
motor ship built in 1928, and sunk by enemy action in 1943. The fourth was a
Type C1 motor ship bought second-hand in 1946, sold in 1961, and renamed.
Building ''Bra-Kar''
The Tyne Iron Shipbuilding Company built the ship as yard number 177 at
Willington Quay on the
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
. She was launched on 14 February 1911 and completed that March.
Her registered length was , her
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
was , and her depth was . Her
tonnages were and .
She had a single
screw, driven by a three-cylinder
triple-expansion engine
A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.
A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up h ...
built by John Dickinson and Sons of
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
. The engine was rated at 349
NHP
Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...
, and gave her a speed of .
[
''Bra-Kar''s owner was Akties Bonheur, and Fred Olsen & Co managed her. She was registered in Christiania. Her ]code letters
Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...
were MGNT.
''Havø'' and ''Mabuhay II''
In 1916 Henrik Østervold acquired ''Bra-Kar'' and renamed her ''Havø''. By 1920 she was equipped for wireless telegraphy, and that year Østervold transferred her registration to Bergen. In 1934 the call sign LDCA superseded her code letters. In 1935 the Far Eastern Steamship Co Ltd A/S acquired ''Havø'', renamed her ''Mabuhay II'', and appointed Johan Gran to manage her.
''Ryūsei Maru''
In 1938 Matsumoto Masaichi acquired ''Mabuhay II'' and renamed her ''Ryūsei Maru''. She was registered in Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
, and her call sign was JXDM.
In 1943, Matsumoto Masaichi merged with Nakamura Kisen KK. On 5 November that year the Imperial Japanese Army requisitioned ''Ryūsei Maru''Surabaya
Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...
, Java for Ambon, Maluku carrying about 6,600 men: 1,244 Japanese Army soldiers, 2,865 Indian prisoners of war
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
, and 2,559 rōmusha is a Japanese language word for Corvée. The U.S. Library of Congress estimates that in Java (island), Java, between 4 and 10 million ''rōmusha'' were forced to work by the Japanese military during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in World Wa ...
conscripted labourers. She was part of a convoy with '' Tango Maru'', escorted by the minesweepers '' W-8'' and ''W-11'', and the auxiliary submarine chaser
A submarine chaser or subchaser is a small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. Many of the American submarine chasers used in World War I found their way to Allied nations by way of Lend-Lease in World War II.
...
''Takunan Maru No. 5''.[
Allied naval intelligence was aware of the convoy, and the US Navy sent the submarines and to the Bali Sea to intercept it. At 2045 hrs on 25 February, ''Rasher'' sank ''Tango Maru'' by torpedo at position , about north of Bali. At least 3,000 of the people aboard were killed.][
At 2225 hrs on the same evening, ''Rasher'' fired a spread of four torpedoes at ''Ryūsei Maru'' at position . Three hit the ship, splitting her in two. Estimates of fatalities range from at least 3,000][ to 4,998.]
See also
* List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryusei Maru
1911 ships
Maritime incidents in February 1944
Merchant ships of Norway
Ships built on the River Tyne
Ships sunk by American submarines
Shipwrecks of Indonesia
Steamships of Japan
Steamships of Norway
World War I merchant ships of Norway
World War II merchant ships of Japan
World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean