The was a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese ocean liner

Ocean liner

An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...

 owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Tokyo. The ship was went into service in 1937.

The name Nagata Maru derives from Nagata jinja, a Shinto

Shinto

or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

 shrine

Jinja (Shinto)

A Shinto shrine is a structure whose main purpose is to house one or more Shinto kami....

 in Nagata Ward, Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

History

Nagata maru was the name of a of several Japanese vessls. In 1900, Fujinagata Shipyards

Fujinagata Shipyards

was a shipyard and railroad car manufacturer in Osaka, Japan.-History:Fujinagata claimed to have been founded in 1689, making it one of the oldest shipbuilders in Japan. Originally called Hyōgo-ya, and located in central Osaka, it was contracted in 1854 by officials representing the Tokugawa...

 completed its first all-metal construction merchant vessel; the No.2 Nagata Maru.

List of ships named Nagata Maru

• Nagata Maru No. 1
• Nagata Maru No. 2
• Nagata Maru No. 3
• Nagata Maru No. 4
• Nagata Maru No. 5
• Nagata Maru No. 6
• Nagata Maru No. 7
• Nagata Maru No. 8
• Nagata Maru No. 9
• Nagata Maru No. 10
• Nagata Maru No. 11
• Nagata Maru No. 12
• Nagata Maru No. 13

• Nagata Maru (1937)

Pacific War

In 1939, Nagata Maru was commandeered by the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

 for use as a troopship

Troopship

A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime...

.

In transporting Allied

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

 prisoners, it was amongst those vessels which earned the epithet "hell ship

Hell Ship

A hell ship is a ship with extremely unpleasant living conditions or with a reputation for cruelty among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy to transport Allied prisoners of war out of the Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore during World War II. The...

s."

In 1944, Nagata Maru was part of a Singapore-to-Saigon convoy anchored off Cape St. Jacques in French Indochina. The ship bombed and sunk.

External links

• Ship's List: Ships of Nippon Yusen Kaisha K.K