''Toyama Maru'' (富山丸) was a 7,089-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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. On 29 June 1944, ''Toyama Maru'' was transporting over 6,000 men of the Japanese 44th Independent Mixed Brigade when she was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine in the

Nansei Shoto The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

, off Taira Jima,

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 ...

, at position 27º47'N, 129º05'E. 5,400 soldiers and crew members were killed during the sinking, although 600 others got off the ship, making the sinking of ''Toyama Maru'' one of the worst maritime disasters in history.

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* World War II merchant ships of Japan Ships sunk by American submarines Battle of Okinawa Maritime incidents in June 1944 1915 ships {{WWII-stub

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