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Posted on 06/19/2026 12:26:40 PM PDT by DFG
The wreck of a Japanese prison ship that was sunk by U.S. warplanes and went down with more than 1,000 Allied prisoners of war in 1944 has been discovered in the Philippines.
The vessel was one of the notorious "hellships" used by the Japanese to ferry POWs between work camps. Many of the prisoners who died when the ship sank had worked on the infamous Burma-Thailand "Death Railway."
"Sadly, a lot of these prisoner transport ships were sunk by the Allies," expedition leader and American TV show host Josh Gates told Live Science. "The ships were painted to just look like military vessels, and they were inside the Japanese convoys — so the Allies thought they were legitimate military targets."
Gates teamed up with the Hellships Memorial Foundation, a U.S.-registered non-profit based in Subic Bay in the Philippines, to investigate the sinking of the hellship Hōfuku Maru. Its wreck had never been found, probably because searchers were guided by incorrect U.S. records to look too far north, he said.
But Japanese wartime records were more precise about the wreck's location, helping the team find the remains of the Hōfuku Maru in January, Gates said. His team has since made five dives to the wreck, which sits a few miles off the west coast of the main Philippines island of Luzon at a depth of about 160 feet (50 meters).
Prison ships
Japan used more than 130 hellships during World War II, but the wrecks of only a few have been found. Many hellships, including the Hōfuku Maru, were converted freighters. The Hōfuku Maru was used as a prison ship from 1942 until its sinking about two years later.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
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ping
Ping..............😥
I have not heard anything about this, before.
Disgusting, in multiple ways.
Truly a sad situation.
Me either.
Unverifiable until now?
Continue to rest in peace heroes.
My KGV high school friend’s father was captured in Hong Kong when the British defenders last stand surrendered in Stanley. His group of POWs were transported by the Lisbon Maru to Japan. Unfortunately, the ship was torpedoed by a US sub off the coast of China. He and many others managed break out of the hold, avoid Japanese machine gunners and jump into the sea. He was rescued by Chinese fishermen but was recaptured by the Japanese. He survived the war and lived a long life. A documentary was made to tell the story last year.
A truly horrible form of friendly fire.
I wonder what the allies would have lost if knowing a ship was ferrying pows it was not sunk.
My father worked with a guy that survived the Bataan death march. If a group of them went to lunch & the driver had a Japanese car, he refused to get in it.
....and people whine we nuked the little nip bastards. Should’ve been thrice for good measure.
There were many many more with even more dead
Junyō Maru – a Hell ship sunk by the Royal Navy submarine HMS Tradewind in September. 5,620 Dutch POWs and Javanese slave labourers died.
Tango Maru – On 25 February the Japanese prisoner transport ship, often referred to as a hell ship, was traveling between Java and Ambon while crammed with 3,500 Javanese labourers (romusha) and hundreds of Allied POWs. The US submarine USS Rasher sank the ship with three torpedo hits.[5] About 500 Javanese survived the sinking. On the same day Rasher also sank Ryūsei Maru killing some 5,000 Japanese soldiers.
Arisan Maru – On 24 October one of Japan’s hell ships, was transporting 1,781 US and Allied POWs and Japanese civilians when she was hit by a torpedo from a US submarine. It is not known whether it was USS Shark or USS Snook. Nine of the prisoners aboard survived.
Rakuyo Maru – On 12 September the Japanese troopship, while part of Convoy HI-72 and transporting 1,317 Australian and British POWs from Singapore, was torpedoed and sunk in the Luzon Strait by USS Sealion. 1,159 POWs were killed. On 15 September Sealion and other submarines who had taken part in the attack returned to the area and rescued 63 surviving POWs, but four died before they could be landed at Tanapag Harbor, Saipan in the Mariana Islands.
Montevideo Maru – On 22 June, after the fall of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea the Japanese ordered 845 Australian POWs (prisoners of war) and 208 civilian internees to board the unmarked Japanese ship for transport to Japan. On 1 July the US submarine USS Sturgeon attacked and sank the ship near the northern Philippine coast. Of the 1,140 people aboard, including 88 crew, reportedly 18 survived.
Hōfuku Maru – On 20 September the Japanese cargo ship, while transporting POWs, and 10 other ships formed Convoy MATA-27 sailing from Manila to Japan. The following morning the convoy was attacked 80 nautical miles (150 km) north of Corregidor by more than 100 US carrier planes. All 11 ships in the convoy were sunk. Of those on board, 1,047 of the 1,289 British and Dutch POWs aboard died.
Lisbon Maru – On 1 October the Japanese troop transport/freighter, while carrying 2,000 British POWs from the fall of Hong Kong, was torpedoed by the US submarine USS Grouper. An estimated 846 prisoners were killed. Many of the POWs were shot by their Japanese guards while they tried to swim to other ships in the convoy or to shore.
Here is one from Europe
Struma – On 23 February, the small ship, crowded with Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe trying to reach Palestine, was towed from Istanbul through the Bosphorus and into the Black Sea by the Turkish authorities with her refugee passengers aboard, where she was left adrift with her engine inoperable. Early on 24 February she was torpedoed and sunk by the Soviet submarine Shch-213. There was only one survivor; an estimated 791 men, women and children were killed.
LEAVE IT ALONE. There has been enough grief already.
More POW deaths from sinkings.
Tamahoko Maru – this Japanese passenger-cargo ship was torpedoed by submarine USS Tang on 24 June, carrying Japanese troops and 772 Allied POWs of which 560 died.
The POWs in camps on Japan knew to mark them as allied prisoners to avoid being bombed.
Poor guys on ships had nothing.
Imagine the conditions they were kept in by the sadistic Japs.
That’s one of Murphy’s Laws of Warfare:
Friendly fire isn’t.
My Dad was in HK island in ‘41 when the Japanese were invading. He could hear the artillery shells aimed at the Brits passing overhead. My Grandad sent him to Macau for secondary school to get him out of harm’s way. My Mom’s family was in Shanghai during the occupation. My Aunt was knocked over by the shock wave of a stick of Japanese bombs that landed somewhat close by. They absolutely HATED the Japanese for decades after.
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