history · 01 April 1945 · 79 years ago
The 11,000-ton Japanese liner Awa Maru, given safe passage by the Americans because she had revealed that she was carrying Red Cross parcels and other aid to Allied POWs, was torpedoed and sunk by American submarine USS Queenfish in the Taiwan Strait after a breakdown in communications. Of the estimated 2,500 people on board, many of them skilled Japanese technicians, only one survived. For the only time in the war, the US Government acknowledged responsibility for wrongfully sinking an enemy ship and promised compensation after the war. Queenfish's commanding officer was court martialled for negligence, but was later exonerated based on the fact that Awa Maru was later discovered to be smuggling rubber and other war materials.
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