Hell Ships of World War 2- The Dark Journey of Allied POWs Across the Japanese Empire

by Gabriel Carrillo

The term "hell ship" holds a somber place in history, predominantly within the American lexicon. Initially emerging during the American Revolution, the term described the dire conditions aboard ships used by the British to imprison American revolutionaries. These vessels, originally designed for far fewer occupants, were overcrowded with thousands of men, leading to the death of approximately 11,000 patriots.[1]

The "hell ships" concept experienced a grim resurgence during World War II. This era saw American and Allied prisoners subjected to brutal conditions by the Japanese. Despite the diverse origins of these ships—ranging from auxiliary vessels and escort carriers to merchant and passenger ships—all were repurposed with a common, harrowing purpose: to transport prisoners across the expansive Japanese Empire under deplorable conditions.[2]
The Japanese began the tactic of transporting enemy prisoners aboard atrocious conditions with merchant ships at the beginning of 1942. Merchant ships are designed to hold the most significant amount of trading goods for a limited number of people. With the conquest of the American colony of the Philippines, the Japanese had large numbers of skilled laborers from Western countries that could be used in the Japanese war effort. The first hell ships to be sent off were the merchant ships Shoun Maru and Tenshin Maru, both departing on 1 January, each holding a small number of only fifty Allied prisoners from the coast of the Philippines to Osaka, Japan[3]. The success of these two small voyages influenced the Japanese to send eight hundred prisoners nine days later off the island of Guam on the Argentina Maru, a civilian ship turned merchant vessel[4]. The origins of these merchant hell ships are obscured, as was the case with the Kachidoki Maru, originally built and operated by the United States from 1920 to 1941 under the name of SS President Harrison. On the eve of the Pacific War, the United States Navy hired President Harrison to evacuate American Marines from Shanghai, China. On its way out of China, the Japanese pursued the ship, causing its destruction. The Japanese captured the vessel and repurposed it into a cargo vessel that wound up transporting nine hundred and fifty Allied prisoners[5]. The bulk of Japanese hell ships acted as merchant ships.
On 12 January 1942, the Japanese started to dually use escort carriers as hell ships. Escort carriers, more popularly called 'aircraft carriers,' were a relatively new marine invention by the Second World War, meant to serve as manmade islands for aircraft and other large pieces of equipment. The Japanese originally built the Nitta Maru as a passenger ship. However, the Japanese Navy deemed it necessary to turn the liner into an escort carrier. The Navy completely flattened the top of the ship to hold airplanes and detailed it with considerable firepower. However, the Japanese gave the ship no arresting gears necessary to decelerate incoming aircraft, usually given to escort carriers. The new name bestowed on the ship was Chūyō. However, Chūyō's conversion from a passenger ship into an aircraft carrier and lack of proper equipment to host aircraft greatly slowed the ship's moving speed. Departing from the conquered territory of Wake Island, 1,187 POWs were crammed into the ship bound for Yokohama, Japan[6]. The Japanese Hell Ship, the Argentina Maru, awaited the same fate, with its first transition from a civilian ship into a cargo-hell ship and then conversion into the escort carrier Kaiyō. Most of these makeshift escort carriers saw little interaction with POWs as their presence was necessary elsewhere.

Argentina Maru on November 15, 1943, Source: Wikipedia

The first hell ship acting as a troop transporter came on 12 March 1942 with the Tatsuta Maru. Troop transporters or Troopships were solely purposed to house land troops at sea. Built in the 1930s, the Tatsuta Maru saw a successful tour as a civilian ship, becoming the first civilian ship to cross under the San Francisco Bridge, even carrying American players from Major League Baseball. Westerners found themselves once more on the Tatsuta Maru as prisoners, with the Japanese Navy converting the ship into a troop transporter[7]. Numerous other troop transporters, dually serving as Hell Ships for POWs, traversed the oceans. The troop transporter Lisbon Maru carried 1,816 British prisoners from Hong Kong to Shanghai[8]. One of the most successful hell ships was the troop transporter England Maru, surviving three voyages from Sumatra, Formosa, and Singapore before getting sunk by an American submarine[9]. Due to their purpose specifically aimed at holding bodies, troop transporters saw the most cramped conditions for POWs, carrying both Japanese troops and prisoners in the thousands. After merchant ships, troop transporters were the second most sought-after ship type for hell ships.


The first auxiliary ships holding Allied Prisoners of War came in August 1942. Auxiliary ships support the navy ships that perform the actual fighting, serving as a platform for replenishing and repairing combatant ships. Although not equipped to be on the offensive, auxiliary ships were afforded weapons aimed at self-defense. The auxiliary Otaru Maru (called the Suzuya Maru) carried a sizable number of one hundred and eighty Allied Prisoners from one part of Fermosa to another. High-profile Allied officers, such as General Wainwright from the United States Army Forces in the Far East, were present on the ship. Another auxiliary ship, the Oyo Maru, carried an unknown number of prisoners from Java to Singapore. Auxiliary ships rarely served as hell ships due to their capabilities needed to sustain the defense of Japanese conquests.


The destroyer was the last and least likely type of ship to be used in transporting prisoners. Used for conquest and defense over the seas and land, destroyer ships allowed the Japanese expansion into the Pacific. The Japanese Destroyer Oite took in only three airman prisoners after just having shot them down on New Year's Day of 1945 in Papua New Guinea. Another Destroyer, Kamikase, acquired prisoners the same way and on the same day but with eight men in Singapore. The most significant number of prisoners to enter a destroyer came on 26 February 1944, when the Japanese battleship Tone transported one hundred and eleven prisoners to Java after raiding the Australian coasts[10]. Destroyers saw few prisoners enter them, and when such occasions did occur, they were often unplanned.


The transformation of these ships into hell ships reflects a broader view held by the Japanese during the war—that Western prisoners were mere commodities. This perspective justified the inhumane conditions aboard these vessels, treating human lives as expendable. The diversity of ships repurposed for transporting prisoners underscores a chilling aspect of wartime logistics, where strategic and operational imperatives overshadowed the value of human life.

1. AO. “The HMS Jersey: Gruesome Revolutionary Prison Ship.” History Things, 7 Jan. 2020, historythings.com/gruesome-revolutionary-prison/. ‌
2. Network, MI News. “What Are Hell Ships?” Marine Insight, 3 Dec. 2018, www.marineinsight.com/maritime-history/what-are-hell-ships/. Accessed 11 Aug. 2023.
3. “List of Hellship Voyages.” Www.west-Point.org, www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/ShipsNum.htm. Accessed 11 Aug. 2023.
4. “Japanese Navy Ships--AP ARGENTINA MARU (1941-42).” Www.ibiblio.org, www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-a/argnta-m.htm. Accessed 11 Aug. 2023.
5. “KACHIDOKI MARU: Tabular Record of Movement.” Www.combinedfleet.com, www.combinedfleet.com/Kachidoki_t.htm. Accessed 11 Aug. 2023.
6. Peattie, Mark. Sunburst. Naval Institute Press, 2013.
7. “IJN TATSUTA MARU: Tabular Record of Movement.” Www.combinedfleet.com, www.combinedfleet.com/Tatsuta_t.htm. Accessed 11 Aug. 2023.
8. “British POWs Sank with the Lisbon Maru - Should It Be Raised?” BBC News, 14 July 2018, www.bbc.com/news/stories-44814053. Accessed 11 Aug. 2023.
9. “ENGLAND MARU: Tabular Record of Movement.” Www.combinedfleet.com, www.combinedfleet.com/England_t.htm. Accessed 11 Aug. 2023.
10. “IJN TONE: Tabular Record of Movement.” Www.combinedfleet.com, www.combinedfleet.com/tone_t.htm. Accessed 11 Aug. 2023.