Arisan Maru
| Country | Japan |
| Sunk | 24 Oct 1944 |
| Displacement | 6,886 tons standard |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseArisan Maru was a Japanese freighter. At 1700 hours on 24 Oct 1944, while carrying 1,782 Allied prisoners of war and 50 civilians from Allied nations, she was struck by a torpedo from either American submarine USS Shark or USS Snook in the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippine Islands. She sank at about 1900 hours. Only nine of the captives survived the sinking, five of whom made their way to China while the other four were re-captured by the Japanese. Anton Cichy, one of the five lucky ones, recalled many friendly Chinese civilians who clothed them, fed them, and brought them all the way to Kunming, Yunnan Province, China at great risk to themselves; he estimated that the Chinese had helped him regain 40 pounds in weight, which he had lost while in Japanese captivity.
ww2dbaseSources:
Linda Kush, The Rice Paddy Navy
Wikipedia
Last Major Revision: Jul 2010
Arisan Maru Operational Timeline
| 24 Oct 1944 | Japanese freighter Arisan Maru, carrying 1,782 Allied prisoners of war, was sunk by an American submarine. Only 9 POWs survived the sinking. |
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Visitor Submitted Comments
17 Feb 2018 05:45:08 AM
DOE'S ANYONE HAVE ANY PRINTABLE PICS OF THE ARISAN MARU I WAS BORN OCT 25 1944 AND JOINED THE US NAVY AFTER BOOT CAMP MY ORDERS PUT ME ON THE USS SAINT PAUL. VERY STRANGE.
17 Feb 2018 05:54:16 AM
MY UNCLE WAS A POW IN WW2 AND WAS KILLED WHEN ON THE ARISAN MARU ,CAN I FLY A POW FLAG AT MY HOME THANKS ALSO IS IT OK TO GET A POW HAT OR IS THAT NOT OK.
17 Mar 2019 09:56:37 PM
My uncle Ignacio Castillo was on this ship and died. This is what were told but the roster has his name wrong?
I need more info please.
22 Oct 2019 06:29:07 PM
I had an uncle killed as well.
16 Feb 2020 06:20:36 PM
My Uncle was Medic/ POW lost in sinking. Thanks to this info 3 of his brothers learned the truth about his death before they passed.In memory PFC Benjamin Franklin Foster Roebuck, SC
21 Mar 2021 12:36:52 AM
Doing some family research I find a local young man who perished aboard THIS "Hell ships" as they were called. Pharmacist's Mate Leslie Frank Bloomingdale (b.1921) of Elma Washington. His family built a monument in the local cemetery that says "In memory of our son and his buddies who were lost in the North China Sea". He must have survived the sinking of this ship as they listed him as shot trying to escape afterwards. Over 1750 souls were lost in that incident with this being the largest loss of American lives in a single disaster at sea ever...RIP You have never been forgotten...
28 Jul 2021 05:21:30 PM
Has the wreckage of the Arisan Maru ever been found? My mother's cousin, Guy Wittrup Iversen perished in this sinking.
All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB.
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George Patton, 31 May 1944
10 Feb 2018 06:43:10 PM
MY UNCLE PAUL W PINKHAM WAS ON THIS SHIP AND WAS KILLED