''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 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 ...

, 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 Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan Mail Shipping Line), also known as NYK Line, is a Japanese shipping company and is a member of the Mitsubishi ''keiretsu''. The company headquarters are located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It operates a flee ...

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.

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

See also

References