SS Montevideo Maru
Montevideo Maru, c.1941
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| History | |
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 Japan
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| Name: | MV Montevideo Maru |
| Owner: | Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK) |
| Builder: | Mitsubishi Zosen Kakoki Kaisha, Nagasaki |
| Launched: | 1926 |
| Fate: | Sunk, 1 July 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 7,267 GRT |
| Length: | 430 ft (130 m) |
| Beam: | 56 ft (17 m) |
| Draught: | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) |
Montevideo Maru was a Japanese auxiliary ship that was sunk in World War II, resulting in the drowning of a large number of Australian prisoners of war and civilians being transported from Rabaul. Prior to the war, it operated as a passenger and cargo vessel, traveling mainly between Asia and South America.
Montevideo Maru was one of three ships (along with Santos Maru and La Plata Maru) of the Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK) shipping line built for their trans-Pacific service to South America. The 7,267 ton ship was constructed at the Mitsubishi Zosen Kakoki Kaisha shipyard at Nagasaki, and launched in 1926. At 430 feet (130 metres) in length, and 56 ft (17 m) in the beam, she was powered by two Mitsubishi-Sulzer 6ST60 six-cylinder diesel engines delivering a total of 4,600 horsepower (3,400 kilowatts) and giving her a speed of 14.5 knots (26.9 kilometres per hour; 16.7 miles per hour).
On 22 June 1942, some weeks after the fall of Rabaul to the Japanese, a large number of Australian prisoners were embarked from Rabaul's port on Montevideo Maru. Unmarked as a POW ship, she was proceeding without escort to the Chinese island of Hainan, when she was sighted by the American submarine Sturgeon near the northern Philippine coast on 30 June.
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