Ms aramis

The construction of Aramis began in 1931 at the Forge et Chantiers et Ateliers de la Mediterranee shipyard , commissioned by the French company Messageries Maritimes for operation on European-Asian routes. The liner was launched on June 30, 1931, completed in October 1932 ^[1] .

The liner made its first flight on October 21, 1932 from Marseille. In 1933, Aramis moved to Compagnie Générale Transatlantique and operated flights to Port Said , Djibouti , Colombo , Penang , Singapore , Saigon , Hong Kong , Shanghai and Kobe .

In July 1933, ran aground in the Zhoushan archipelago. Towed to Japan by the French cruiser Primauguet . In 1935, Aramis underwent modernization at La Ciotat shipyard. The length of the vessel was increased by 9 meters, diesels were boosted to 15,600 liters. sec., which allowed to increase the maximum speed from 16 to 19 knots.

September 4, 1939, the day after France declared war on Germany, the Aramis was converted in Saigon into an auxiliary cruiser. He received the name X-1 , installed weapons: eight 138-mm guns, 8 machine guns and two 75 and 37 mm anti-aircraft guns. In 1940, the X-1 patrolled between Hong Kong and Singapore, then patrolled the Sunda Strait , the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea . August 1, 1940 demilitarized. The armament was withdrawn, the ship was renamed back to "Aramis" ^[1] .

In early 1942, Japan requisitioned many French ships in Indochina. In June 1942, monthly compensation of 168,346 yen was assigned to the former owners of Aramis. The vessel was renamed Teiya-maru ( 帝 亜 丸 ) and transferred to the state-owned company Teikoku Senpaku . Together with 569 prisoners of war and cargo, Teiya-maru left Saigon and went to Yokohama, where he was serviced at the Mitsubishi dock, after which he was placed at the disposal of the Imperial Navy of Japan .

In the fall of 1943, Teija-maru was used in a mission to exchange returnees between Japan and the United States. The ship carries about 80 interned US citizens from Japan, from the Philippines occupied by Japan - several dozen Catholic priests and nuns, a family of Protestant priests. Another 27 people - from Saigon, then in Singapore - several hundred people from the staff of American companies. In total, when leaving Singapore, on board the Teia Maru there were 1,525 passengers: 1,270 Americans, 120 Canadians, 15 Chileans and several citizens of Britain, Panama, Spain, Portugal, Cuba and Argentina. October 19 at the port of Mormugao (Portuguese Goa) an exchange was held for 1340 Japanese citizens who arrived on the Swedish liner Gripsholm .

Subsequently, Teiya Maru was used as a military transport for transportation between Indochina, Singapore and the Philippines. In June 1944, he transported about 1000 prisoners of war of the anti-Hitler coalition used to build the Thai-Burmese railway from Singapore to Moji ^[1] .

Drowning

On August 10, 1944, Teiya Maru left the Imari Bay of Singapore as part of a large convoy Hi-71 . The endpoint of the route of this convoy was Manila - the Japanese transferred a large number of troops for the defense of the Philippines. Teiya Maru took on board 5,478 people: Air Force maintenance personnel, units of the 358th Separate Infantry Battalion and 13th Regiment of the 26th Division. The protection of the convoy was provided by two destroyers and six escort ships.

August 18 in typhoon conditions, American submarine Redfish carried out the first torpedo attack, significantly damaging the tanker Eio Maru. Two destroyers were forced to accompany him to Tacao - the protection of the convoy was significantly weakened. During the next attack, the USS Rasher submarine sank the Tayo-maru escort carrier and the Teyo-maru tanker. An hour later, at 23:12, Rasher attacked the Teiya-maru with two torpedoes. Both hit the target, a fire started on the ship, which ended in an explosion and sinking at a point of 2,665 people were killed ^[2] .

• David L. Williams. In Titanic's Shadow: The World's Worst Merchant Ship Disasters . - The History Press, 2012 .-- 192 p. - ISBN 9780752477138 .