Tango Maru

was a cargo motor ship that was built in Germany in 1926 and sunk off the coast of Bali in 1944. She was launched as ''Rendsburg'' for the Deutsch-Australische Dampfschiffs-Gesellschaft (DADG), which in 1926 merged with Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG).

When Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, the Dutch authorities seized ''Rendsburg'' in the Dutch East Indies and renamed her ''Toendjoek''. In March 1942, during the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch scuttled her as a blockship.

In August 1942 the Japanese re-floated her and renamed her ''Tango Maru''. In 1944 she was serving as a hell ship when the submarine torpedoed her, sinking her with the loss of about 3,000 lives.

Other Japanese ships in the Second World War were also called ''Tango Maru''. One was the British-built, Dutch-owned tanker ''Talang Akar'', which was sunk in the Makassar Strait in November 1943, ironically also by ''Rasher''. Another was a Japanese-built steamship operated by Nippon Yusen KK, which was sunk in the East China Sea by US aircraft only five days later.

''Rendsburg'' and her sisters

In the mid-1920s DADG ordered its first three motor ships. All were built by shipyards in Hamburg. Vulcan-Werke completed ''Duisburg'' in July 1925 and ''Rendsburg'' in February 1926; and Blohm+Voss completed ''Magdeburg'' in December 1925.

''Rendsburg'' was launched on 1 September 1925 and completed on 2 February 1926. Her registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . Her tonnages were and .

Each of the three sister ships had a single screw. Blohm+Voss equipped ''Magdeburg'' with one six-cylinder two-stroke diesel engine, but ''Duisburg'' and ''Rendsburg'' each had a pair of eight-cylinder four-stroke diesel engines, driving the single propeller shaft via " hydraulic oil transformers" and single-reduction gearing. MAN pioneered this transmission system to allow high-speed Diesel engines to be used in marine propulsion. The combined power of ''Rendsburg''s twin engines was rated at 993 NHP or 4,100 bhp, and gave her a speed of .

DADG registered ''Rendsburg'' in Hamburg. Her code letters were RFQK. She was equipped for wireless telegraphy from new. In November 1926 HAPAG absorbed DADG, and adopted DADG's colour scheme for the newly combined fleet. ''Rendsburg'' continued to operate between Hamburg, Australia, and the Far East. By 1933 she was equipped with wireless direction finding. By 1934 the call sign DIET had superseded her code letters.

''Toendjoek''

When the Second World War began in September 1939, German merchant ships sought refuge in neutral ports. ''Rendsburg'' sheltered in Tanjung Priok in the Dutch East Indies. On 10 May 1940 Germany invaded the Netherlands, and the Dutch authorities seized all German ships in Dutch ports.

The Netherlands surrendered on 17 May, but the Dutch government continued in exile. It took ownership of ''Rendsburg'', renamed her ''Toendjoek'', and appointed Willem Ruys en Zonen to manage her. She was registered in Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies. In October 1940 Nederlandsch Indische Maatschappij Voor Zeevaart NV became her managers.

In December 1941 Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies. On 2 March 1942, a week before Dutch forces surrendered to the Japanese, ''Toendjoek''s crew scuttled her as a blockship.

''Tango Maru''

On 12 August 1942 Japanese salvors raised ''Toendjoek''. She was repaired, and in 1943 she entered Japanese service. The Japanese Government’s Teikoku Senpaku Kaisha (Imperial Steamship Company) assumed ownership of ''Toendjoek'', renamed her ''Tango Maru'', registered her in Yokohama, and appointed Lino Kaiun Kaisha or Iino Kaiun Kaisha (sources differ) to manage her.

On 19 September 1943 a storm drove ''Tango Maru'' ashore on Amami Ōshima. The same storm drove four other Japanese ships ashore.

On 24 February 1944 ''Tango Maru'' left Surabaya, Java for Ambon, Maluku carrying about 5,700 troops, including men of the Japanese 3rd Infantry Regiment, and about 3,500 Javanese rōmusha conscripted labourers and Allied prisoners of war, probably mostly Royal Netherlands East Indies Army indigenous troops. She was part of a convoy with '' Ryūsei Maru'', escorted by the minesweepers '' W-8'' and ''W-11'', and the auxiliary submarine chaser ''Takunan Maru No. 5''.

Allied naval intelligence was aware of the convoy, and the US Navy sent the submarines and to the Bali Sea to intercept it. At 1943 hrs on 25 February, ''Rasher'' fired a spread of four torpedoes. One hit ''Tango Maru''s starboard side, penetrating her number 4 hold. Five minutes later she sank at position , about north of Bali. At least 3,000 of the people aboard were killed.

At 2225 hrs on the same evening, ''Rasher'' fired a spread of four torpedoes at ''Ryūsei Maru'' at position . Three hit the ship, splitting her in two. Estimates of fatalities range from at least 3,000 to 4,998.

See also

*List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines

References

Bibliography

*
*
*
*
*
*

{{February 1944 shipwrecks

1926 ships
Captured ships
Maritime incidents in March 1942
Maritime incidents in February 1944
Merchant ships of Germany
Scuttled vessels
Ships built in Hamburg
Ships sunk by American submarines
Shipwrecks of Indonesia
World War II merchant ships of Japan
World War II merchant ships of the Netherlands
World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean