, originally named ''Rendsburg'', was a cargo ship built in Germany in 1925. It was sunk by an American submarine on February 25, 1944, while in the service of the Imperial Steamship Co., a Japanese government-owned company. The sinking cost about 3,000 passengers and crew their lives.

History

The 6,200 ton cargo ship was built for the Deutsche Australische Dampfschiffs Gesellschaft (German-Australian Line) of Hamburg at the Vulcan-Werke, in Hamburg, Germany. She was launched in 1925 and named ''Rendsburg''. On May 10, 1940 she was confiscated by the Dutch in the

Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

and renamed ''Toendjoek''. She was scuttled on March 2, 1942 as a blockship off the port of Trandjung Priok. Refloated by the IJN on August 12, 1942, she was repaired and put into service with the Imperial Steamship Co, a Japanese government company. On February 25, 1944, crammed with 3,500 Javanese labourers (''

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 ...

'') and hundreds of Allied

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

, ''Tango Maru'' was traveling between

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

and Ambon. The American submarine USS ''Rasher'' sank the ship north of

Bali Island 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 Nus ...

with three

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

hits. Only about 500 Javanese survived. On the same day USS ''Rasher'' also sank '' Ryusei Maru'', killing some 5,000 Japanese soldiers. Another Japanese ship named ''Tango Maru'', a 2,046 ton tanker, was also sunk by ''Rasher'', on November 8, 1943 in the

Makassar Strait Makassar Strait is a strait between the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi in Indonesia. To the north it joins the Celebes Sea, while to the south it meets the Java Sea. To the northeast, it forms the Sangkulirang Bay south of the Mangkalihat Pe ...

References

1925 ships Ships built in Hamburg Scuttled vessels Captured ships Maritime incidents in February 1944 Ships sunk by American submarines Maritime incidents in March 1942 World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean {{ship-stub

History

See also

References