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A thread about wartime cruise ships (1/11): This is a Japanese passenger liner advertisement from April 1940 offering a 3 month "round-the-world luxury cruise." The Twin Sister Queens shown in the ad did not survive World War II... #history #Japan #WorldWar2
(2/11) The ships - the Brasil Maru and Argentina Maru, were named after destination countries on their route. Launched in 1938 and 1939, they featured fancy Japanese and Western-style rooms that only saw civilian use for a few years.
(3/11) Both ships were pressed into naval service in September 1941 as transport ships. In 1942 it was decided that both liners should be converted into aircraft carriers. The Brasil Maru would not survive its trip back to Japan for conversion...
(4/11) In the early hours of August 5 1942, the Brasil Maru was spotted by the USS Greenling. The American submarine fired three torpedoes, two of which scored hits. It was more than enough to bring down the former cruise ship. It sank within seven minutes.
(5/11) The Captain of the Brasil Maru, Ono Nisuke, decided to go down with his ship. Survivors who made it to escape boats claimed to have seen him standing and shouting "Long live His Majesty the Emperor!" as the ship disappeared into the water.
(6/11) Its sinking, as well as those of other transport ships lost in the war, were memorialized by Okubo Ichiro, an artist who worked for the OSK Shipping company. His paintings were thought to have been lost after the war, but were rediscovered in a company vault in 1982.
(7/11) Okubo's paintings have since been displayed at galleries, department stores, and museums across Japan, reminding the public of the terrible cost of the war. https://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~un3k-mn/senin-ga.htm http://www.kenshoukai.jp/kaiga/kaiga.htm https://www.kanaloco.jp/article/entry-63801.html
(8/11) The Brasil Maru's sister ship, the Argentina Maru, survived until nearly the end of the war. After some conversion work, it was relaunched in 1943 the Kaiyō (海鷹 - "sea hawk"), an escort carrier. It primarily carried out aircraft transport and training missions.
(9/11) The Kaiyo's luck ran out in July 1945. After being badly damaged by British and American air attacks, it was run aground near the Japanese city of Beppu so that it wouldn't completely sink. After the war, it became scrap metal.
(10/11) OSK brought back the Brasil Maru name in the postwar years. A new passenger liner was launched in 1954, again covering the Japan-South America route. It was sold to a Chinese company in 1996 and turned into a floating restaurant/aquarium. http://www.oceandictionary.jp/scapes1/scape_by_randam/randam5/select550.html
(11/11) On 100th anniversary of Japanese emigration to Brazil (2007/2008), Mitsui OSK launched its third Brasil Maru. Unlike its predecessors that carried passengers between Japan and Brazil, it transports Brazilian iron to Japan. https://www.mol.co.jp/en/pr/2007/766.html
