SS Gyōkū Maru
SS Gyōkū Maru (暁空丸) was a cargo ship of about 6,854 GRT. It was originally laid down as Empire Dragon in Hong Kong for the British Ministry of War Transport. Built by the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Company, it was laid down on 6 December 1941. After Hong Kong fell, the ship was seized by Japan on 26 December 1941 and completed as Gyōkū Maru in August 1943. It was 430 feet long, 57 feet wide, and powered by a triple-expansion steam engine.
Gyōkū Maru served with the Japanese government/army during 1943–1944. On 22 August 1944, she was part of Convoy Namo 103 carrying evacuee civilians from Okinawa. The convoy was attacked by American submarines; the ship Tsushima Maru was sunk, but Gyōkū Maru escaped.
On 18 September 1944, Gyōkū Maru was torpedoed and sunk by the US submarine USS Thresher in the Yellow Sea. About 1,546 civilian refugees aboard drowned.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:05 (CET).