Awamaru Incident

The Awamaru Incident (Japanese: 阿波丸事件) was an event at the end of the Pacific War in which the cargo passenger ship Awamaru (阿波丸), bound for Japan, was sunk on 1 April 1945 (Shōwa 20) by the US Navy submarine USS Queenfish (SS-393). More than 2,000 passengers and crew died.

Overview

In the spring of 1945, Japan and the United States agreed, through the mediation of the Soviet Union, to exchange prisoners and detained civilians, and to deliver American relief supplies to US prisoners and civilians detained in Southeast Asia under Japanese occupation. Accordingly, prisoner exchanges and the delivery of relief supplies were carried out at Nakhodka in the Soviet Union. For the delivery of relief supplies to Allied prisoners detained in Java and the Malay Peninsula, the 11,000-ton-class cargo passenger ship Awamaru of Nippon Yusen was assigned this role. The US Navy therefore granted the Awamaru a safe-conduct guaranteeing that it would not be attacked, boarded, or interfered with by Allied forces.

When the Awamaru departed, it was painted dark green, the color of merchant ships, with a white cross marked on it for identification. It sailed from Moji port carrying 800 tons of US relief supplies and 600 tons of military materiel, including aircraft and automobile parts and ammunition. It unloaded these relief supplies and military materiel at Singapore and Java, then left Singapore and set out for Japan again on 28 March.

Under the agreement, safety was guaranteed for the return voyage to Japan, and the Japanese army loaded 5,000 tons of tin, tungsten, and aluminum, 2,000 tons of raw rubber, and 2,500 tons of heavy oil and gasoline. Loading such military materiel was clearly a violation of the agreement, and the ship's captain protested, but his protest was ignored because of a shortage of transport ships. In addition, 600 non-combatants, including the branch manager of Mitsui & Co. who had been staying in Southeast Asia, Nippon Yusen employees who were waiting because of the loss of their ships, and the vice minister of the Greater East Asia Ministry and his subordinates, and 820 military personnel boarded the ship.

At 10:00 p.m. on 1 April 1945, the ship changed its route, which had been to pass near Okinawa, and entered the Taiwan Strait. At this time it was detected by radar on the US Navy submarine USS Queenfish, and it was sunk after being hit by three torpedoes. According to records, 2,004 to 2,120 people, including crew, were aboard the Awamaru, and all of them except one man rescued by the Queenfish died. At the time, the Awamaru's holds were loaded with large quantities of military materiel, so it sat deep in the water. Noticing this, the captain of the Queenfish suspected that the ship was carrying military supplies and asked headquarters for permission to attack. Without receiving a reply, he decided on his own to sink the ship. The Queenfish had already received an order in the name of General to guarantee the safety of the Awamaru, but this order had been mixed in with other documents, so the captain of the Queenfish did not confirm it, and a reply was also delayed during communication relay.