Location: South China Sea

The Montevideo Maru was a Japanese auxiliary ship during World War 2. It was sunk off the coast of the Philippines by the USS "Sturgeon" on 01 Jul 1942, while transporting Prisoners of War and civilian internees (mostly Australian, but with a mix of other nationalities, including the mainly Norwegian crew of the freighter "Herstein") from Rabaul to Hainan, resulting in over 1000 deaths (most agree the number was between 1053 and 1057). The ship was not identifiable as carrying prisoners.
The ship was built in Nagasaki, Japan in 1926, 7,266 tons. Originally operated by Osaka Shosen Kaisa Shipping Line between Japan and South America before being requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Wikipedia: Montevideo Maru Background article
Research Resources:
AWM - Montevideo Maru Australian War Memoral article with links
NAA - Official website for Montevideo Maru Website by National Archives of Australia (NAA), with links to the official translation of the Japanese Roll.
NAA Fact Sheet 266 - The Sinking of the Montevideo Maru Contains information and links to a number of digitised files relating to the deaths and investigations into them.
Go to Montevideo Maru Sinking Category on Wikitree.
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