Japanese transport Suzuya Maru

She was laid down on 30 May 1922 by Mitsui Tamano Engineering & Shipbuilding at their Tamano shipyard at the behest of Kita Nippon Kisen K.K./Kitanihon Kisen.[1][2] She was launched on 2 September 1922, completed on 30 September 1922, and registered in Otaru as Hokkai Maru No. 1 but had her name changed in 1924 to Suzuya Maru (after the Suzuya River in Karafuto Prefecture on Sakhalin Island, then part of Japan).[3] Her sister ship was Hokkai Maru No. 2 (renamed Hayataka Maru).[3] In 1925, she was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy.[2] Little is known of her service and she seemed to have lost her original name generally being referred to as No. 107 or Otaru Maru, Otari Maru, or Otaro Maru.[3] On 15 August 1942, she took 179 prisoners of wars (POWs) at the port of Takao who had arrived aboard Nagara Maru.[3][4] The POWs were all American senior civilian and military authorities of the Philippines[5] and included Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright, Commander of Allied forces in the Philippines, and Major General Edward P. King[3] who lead the defense of the Bataan Peninsula in the Battle of Bataan. She delivered the prisoners to the Karenko POW camp[3] on the west coast of Formosa.

On 13 June 1943, Suzuya Maru was torpedoed and sunk by the US submarine USS Guardfish off the southwest coast of New Ireland (03°08′S 151°24′E).[3][6][7]