SS Suez Maru

Suez Maru was a Japanese passenger and cargo steamship that was built in 1919, used as a hell ship, and sunk in 1943. The submarine USS Bonefish (SS-223) sank her when she was carrying 548 Allied prisoners of war (PoWs). Many drowned, but many others were shot by the Japanese.

Building
The Uraga Dock Company in Uraga, Kanagawa built Suez Maru as yard number 150. She was completed in August 1919. Her registered length was 360.0 ft, her beam was 51.2 ft, her depth was 26.1 ft and her draft was 23 ft.

She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine. It was rated at 377 NHP, and gave her a speed of 10.5 kn.

Suez Maru was a sister ship of Kirishima Maru No. 6 and Yoshida Maru No. 3, which the United States Shipping Board bought and renamed Eastern Cross and USS Eastern Chief.

Ownership and registration
Suez Maru'S first owner was Kokusai Kisen KK. She was registered at Uraga, and her code letters were RMBP. In 1934 Kuribayashi Shosen KK acquired her, and at the same time the wireless telegraph call sign JSCD superseded her code letters. Lloyd's Register lists her port of registry from 1934 as "Okada". However, no such port exists.

Loss
Suez Maru sailed on 25 November 1943 with 547 POWs (414 British and 133 Dutch) from Ambon bound for Surabaya. The POWs were all sick men from the work-camps on the Moluccas and Ambon. About 20 were on stretchers. There were also about 200 sick and wounded Japanese soldiers aboard.

On 29 November 1943, near Kangean Island, east of Madura Island, USS Bonefish (SS-223) torpedoed Suez Maru, unaware that she carried Allied PoWs. About half of the POWs drowned in the after hold of the ship, but about 250 to 280 escaped the holds and jumped into the water. Nearly four hours later the escort ship, minesweeper No.12 returned from dropping depth charges near Bonefish. The minesweeper only picked up Japanese survivors, pushing PoWs back into the water if they tried to climb aboard.

Then Captain Kawano Osumu, commander of W-12, discussed with the PoW transport commander Lieutenant Masaji Koshio (also called Masaji Iketani) what should be done with the surviving PoWs. Koshio/Iketani told him that Major General Sanso Anami had ordered that if the ship were torpedoed, the PoWs should be shot. Captain Kawano quickly agreed, ordering gunnery officer Yatsuka to arrange 20 soldiers with rifles on deck and two machine-guns on the lower bridge, while other crew pointed out survivors amongst the wreckage. The gunnery crew then machine-gunned all surviving PoWs in the water. All were killed. About three Japanese casualties also went down with Suez Maru.

The minesweeper No.12 report lodged at Batavia on 3 December 1943 stated that the PoWs were kept in the holds and the hatches locked, stated that they had all drowned on the sinking, and made no mention of the war crime.

Investigation
This war crime was extensively investigated in 1949, after it was reported by Yoshio Kashiki, who was one of the 200 or so wounded Japanese soldiers aboard Suez Maru that day. Dozens of first hand accounts and sworn statements were taken from 22 individuals, suspects and eye witnesses, including signed confessions. Kawano and Iketani were arrested. After the investigation, the UK government wanting to protect its own reputation. It ordered the release of the men arrested for war crimes, ordered that no war crime trial should be held, and ordered a cover-up. The UK government never told the families of those PoWs who were killed what had happened. To date, the Japanese government has never apologised for the treatment and killing of PoWs, and the UK government has never apologised for refusing to bring the known war criminals to justice at court.

The National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, Staffordshire in England has a Japanese Prison Ships Memorial Garden. In it, a monument to the 414 UK POWs aboard Suez Maru whom the Japanese murdered was dedicated on 29 November 2013, the 70th anniversary of the massacre. An 80th anniversary ceremony was held at the monument on 29 November 2023.