SS ''Teiryu Maru'' was a

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

that was launched in England in 1914 as ''Northwestern Miller''. Furness, Withy & Co managed her until 1927, when

Norddeutscher Lloyd Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of th ...

bought her and renamed her ''Augsburg''. In 1940 the Japanese government bought ''Augsburg'' and renamed her ''Teiryu Maru''. In 1944 a

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

submarine sank her in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

, killing 149 of her passengers and crew.

Building

The

Northumberland Shipbuilding Company The Northumberland Shipbuilding Company was a shipbuilding business based at Howdon in Tyne and Wear. History The company was established by Harry S. Edwards in Howdon in 1883. Following the death of the founder the business was bought by Rowla ...

built ''Northwestern Miller'' at

Howdon Howdon is a largely residential area in the eastern part of Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. It consists of High Howdon and the smaller settlement of East Howdon. Much of the High Howdon area was formerly called Willington prior to post-World W ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. She was launched on 19 October 1914 and completed in March 1915. Northumberland SB Co also built her sister ship ''Southwestern Miller'', which was launched on 17 December 1914 and completed in June 1915. ''Northwestern Miller''s registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . As built, her

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on '' tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a cal ...

s were and . ''Northwestern Miller'' had a single

screw A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...

. It was driven by a three-cylinder

triple expansion engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transf ...

built by

Richardsons Westgarth & Company Richardsons Westgarth & Company was a leading British shipbuilding and marine engineering business. The Company was based in Hartlepool and was a major employer in the area. History The company was established in 1832 by Thomas Richardson as a ...

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

. It was rated at 682 NHP and gave her a speed of .

Furness, Withy service

''Northwestern Miller'' and her sister ship were built for Norfolk & North American Steam Shipping Co Ltd, which since 1910 had been a subsidiary of Furness, Withy & Co. They were intended to bring grain from the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

coast of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

through the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

, which opened in August 1914. Furness, Withy registered ''Northwestern Miller'' at

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. She was given the UK

official number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

137431 and

code letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids. Later, with the introduction of ...

JKGP. ''Northwestern Miller'' survived the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1920–21 Furness, Withy ran her in

cargo liner A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to conta ...

service between

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Norddeutscher Lloyd service

In 1927 Norddeutscher Lloyd bought both ''Northwestern Miller'' and ''Southwestern Miller'', and renamed them ''Augsburg'' and ''Giessen'' respectively. ''Augsburg'' was registered in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

and given the German code letters QMGN. NDL ran the two ships between Europe and the Far East. ''Giessen'' was wrecked in the

East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

in 1929. On 4 December 1932 ''Augsburg'' collided with the tanker ''Nord Atlantic'' in fog on the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

. In 1934 the new

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

DOEM superseded ''Augsburg''s code letters. On 24 August 1939 ''Augsburg'' reached

Dairen Dalian ( ) is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China (after Shenyang ...

in the Japanese-ruled

Kwantung Leased Territory The Kwantung Leased Territory () was a Concessions in China, leased territory of the Empire of Japan in the Liaodong Peninsula from 1905 to 1945. Japan first acquired Kwantung from the Qing dynasty, Qing Empire in perpetuity in 1895 in the Tre ...

. On 3 September the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

entered the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. ''Augsburg'' was laid up in Dairen to avoid the risk of being captured by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Far East Fleet The Far East Fleet (also called the Far East Station) was a fleet of the Royal Navy from 1952 to 1971. During the Second World War, the Eastern Fleet included many ships and personnel from other navies, including the navies of the Netherlands, ...

. On 23 February 1940 NDL sold ''Augsburg'' to the

Batavier Line The Batavier Line () was a packet service between Rotterdam and London from 1830 until the 1960s. The line was established by the ''Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij'' (known as NSM and in English as Netherlands Steamship Company).Greenway ( ...

, which planned to rename her ''Vreeburgh''. Batavier Line sent a crew from Rotterdam to take her over, but Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May, before the Dutch crew could reach Dairen. The sale seems to have fallen through.

Japanese service

On 12 May 1940 the Japanese government bought ''Augsburg'', apparently from NDL rather than Batavier Line. She was renamed ''Teiryu Maru'' and registered in Tokyo. On 5 December the government paid NDL $370,000 for her. On 3 February 1941 she was given the call sign JQQO. In 1941 her owner was recorded as Teikoku Kisen KK. ''Teiryu Maryu'' took part in the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in December 1941 and invasion of the Dutch East Indies from January to March 1942. On one voyage in October 1942 she carried 5,693 troops. From November 1942 until May 1943 she supported Japanese forces that were occupying

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

and invading New Guinea. She operated in the Japanese-occupied Philippines, visited Japanese-occupied Singapore and

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

and Vichy French Indochina. Kuretake2

On 21 June 1944, she loaded 550 POWs at

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

arriving at

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

on 24 June. From 15 July 1944 ''Teiryu Maru'' was one of eight merchant ships in Convoy Yuta-9 from Sana bound for Takao in Japanese-ruled Taiwan. The ''Kuretake'' and two auxiliary

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

s escorted the convoy. On the morning of 19 July 1944 the 's radar found Yuta-9 in the South China Sea. At 0745 hrs JST ''Guardfish'' hit ''Teiryu Maru''s port side with one torpedo, flooding her boiler room. At 0753 hrs ''Teiryu Maru'' broke in two and both parts sank. 108 passengers, 38 crew and three defensive gunners were killed. Yuta-9's escorts counter-attacked with many

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

s, but ''Guardfish'' survived.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Teiryu Maru 1914 ships Maritime incidents in 1932 Maritime incidents in July 1944 Ships built on the River Tyne Ships of Norddeutscher Lloyd Ships sunk by American submarines Steamships of Germany Steamships of Japan Steamships of the United Kingdom World War I merchant ships of the United Kingdom World War II merchant ships of Japan World War II shipwrecks in the South China Sea Japanese hell ships