In 1941, along with hundreds of other Japanese merchant vessels, Montevideo Maru was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy
Montevideo Maru prior to being requestioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1941. Image courtesy United States Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, USA NH111585.
Australia’s worst naval loss occurred due to a terrible misunderstanding, when the Montevideo Maru was sunk by American torpedoes in a tragic case of ‘friendly fire’.
BARELY SEVEN MONTHS after the Japanese entered World War II with their attack on Pearl Harbor, a United States submarine, USS Sturgeon, fired four torpedoes at a Japanese vessel that it had been stalking throughout the night. One of the torpedoes found its unfortunate target. The crew of USS Sturgeon were unaware at the time that the enemy vessel was the Japanese transport ship Montevideo Maru, carrying Australian, New Zealand, British and Norwegian prisoners of war (POWs) from Rabaul on New Britain island to Hainan Island, China. Hundreds of Australians lost their lives on the night of 1 July 1942 – almost as many as on HMAS Sydney (II) and HMAS Perth (I) combined – in what is considered Australia’s biggest naval tragedy. The lead-up
Montevideo Maru was a 7,267-ton, steel-hulled, twinscrewed vessel with a length overall of 137 metres and a beam of 17 metres. Constructed at the Mitsubishi Zozen Kakoki Kaisha dockyard in Japan for the Osaka-based shipping line, Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK), Montevideo Maru was built to carry general cargo and passengers from Asia across the Pacific to South America. In 1941, along with hundreds of other Japanese merchant vessels, it was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) to carry troops and military supplies. Australian National Maritime Museum
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