Heian Maru (平安丸) was a Japanese ocean liner launched in 1930 and operated primarily on the NYK line's trans-Pacific service between Yokohama and Seattle. Shortly before the outbreak of the Pacific War, it was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy and converted to use as an auxiliary submarine tender. In 1944 it was sunk by American aircraft at Truk during Operation Hailstone. Its submerged hulk – the largest of Chuuk's "Ghost Fleet" – remains a popular scuba diving destination.
Background In the late 1920s the Japanese shipping company Nippon Yūsen (NYK) began a major shipbuilding program, aimed at expanding its international passenger service. Of eight passenger liners built, three were of the Hikawa Maru class, designed mainly for service on NYK's Yokohama-Seattle route. The three ships were Hikawa Maru, Hiye Maru, and Heian Maru. Construction of the Heian Maru, planned as an 11,616-ton combined passenger-cargo liner, began 19 June 1929 at Ōsaka Iron Works. It was named in honor of Kyoto's historic Heian Shrine and launched on 24 November 1930. Fitting out was completed on 24 November, and on 18 December Heian Maru began her maiden ocean crossing, from Hong Kong to Seattle.
Ocean liner
Heian Maru entered regular service, delivering passengers, cargo, and mail, her initial route being Hong Kong, Shanghai, Moji, Kobe, Yokohama, Victoria and Seattle, with occasional stops at Yokkaichi, Nagoya, and Shimizu. From early 1935 she served the Osaka to Seattle route, with calls at Kobe, Nagoya, and Shimizu. The return trip was to Yokohama, Kobe and Osaka. From April 1935 most voyages started and finished at Kobe, with stops at Yokohama, Vancouver, and Seattle. Due to the speed of Heian Maru and her two sister ships, NYK was able to maintain regular departures from Seattle for Yokohama every three weeks.
Heian Maru was a fast, modern, mid-sized liner capable of taking 300 passengers across the Pacific in comfort. Her interiors were done in Old English style, and when opened for tours in Seattle she attracted thousands of visitors. One 1934 American passenger described the galley's attempts at American-style food as poor, but was impressed by the vessel's compactness of design, clever engineering, and professional crew. On 30 March 1937 she brought Prince and Princess Chichibu to Vancouver on their Royal Visit on their way to the coronation of King George VI. On 26 July 1941, President Roosevelt ordered the freezing of all Japanese assets in the United States. Heian Maru, en route to Seattle, was forced to spend two days sitting 150 miles off Cape Flattery while officials worked out a guarantee that the ship would not be seized once it entered American waters. Among the passengers, waiting anxiously, were numerous Jewish refugees from war-torn Europe, who had received transit visas from Chiune Sugihara, Japanese consul in Lithuania. Once in port the ship was refused permission to discharge its cargo of raw silk (valued at $1,000,000) bound for New Jersey mills. Only after five separate legal claims were initiated by the American customers of this cargo did the government relent and let it be offloaded. All passengers disembarked in Seattle, including 69 bound for Vancouver, B.C. Further diplomatic furor arose when, among 144 Japanese passengers preparing to board the ship for the return voyage to Yokohama, both men and women were stripped to their underwear and searched by American officials. The ship sailed in ballast from Seattle for the last time on 4 August 1941.
Submarine tender After Heian Maru returned to Japan in August 1941, NYK was informed that due to rising tension between Japan and the United States, the liner would be converted to military use. On 3 October the ship was formally requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and designated an auxiliary submarine tender with the Yokosuka Naval District. Two weeks later conversion was begun at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Kobe. Amongst numerous other alterations, four 15 cm/50 41st Year Type naval guns, two dual-mount 13 mm AA guns, two searchlights, and a rangefinder were installed. The outbreak of World War II in the Pacific on 7 December 1941 (8 December in Japan) found Heian Maru still being refitted, but by the end of the month she was on her way to Kwajalein to take up a new posting with IJN 6th Fleet. In early February 1942, while at Kwajalein, Heian Maru's crew got their first experience in combat during raids launched from the American aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6). Throughout 1942 and into the early months of 1943, the Heian Maru shuttled between Japanese bases at Truk (later known as Chuuk Atoll), Rabaul in the Solomon Islands, and Yokosuka and Kure, in Japan. She performed her designated task of supplying the dozen submarines of the IJN 6th Fleet with torpedoes, provisions, spare parts, and replacement crewmen, but, with her capacious holds, was also used as a troop and general cargo transport. At Rabaul in January 1943 Heian Maru was caught in two major Allied aerial attacks, during which she narrowly avoided bomb hits.
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