USS Bowfin (SS/AGSS-287), is a Balao-class submarine of the United States Navy named for the bowfin fish. Since 1981, she has been open to public tours at the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, next to the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center.
USS Gudgeon (SS-211) was the first American submarine to sink an enemy warship in World War II. She was the last of the long-range Tambor-class vessels commissioned for the United States Navy in the years before the country entered World War II. Gudgeon scored 14 confirmed kills, placing her 15th on the honor roll of American submarines. She was declared overdue, presumed lost with all hands, on 7 June 1944. Of the twelve Tambor-class submarines, only five survived the war.
USS Finback (SS-230), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the finback. Nine of Finback's twelve World War II patrols in the Pacific were designated as "successful"; she received 13 battle stars for her service and is credited with having sunk nearly 70 thousand tons of enemy shipping.
USS Flying Fish (SS/AGSS-229), a Gato-class submarine, was the first submarine and second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the flying fish. Flying Fish is credited with having sunk a total of 58,306 tons of Japanese shipping and received 12 battle stars for World War II service.
USS Kingfish (SS-234), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the kingfish.
USS Jack (SS-259), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the jack.
USS Guest (DD-472), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Commodore John Guest (1822–1879).
Naka (那珂) was a Sendai-class light cruiser in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), named after the Naka River in the Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures of eastern Japan. Naka was the third vessel completed in the Sendai class of light cruisers, and like other vessels of her class, she was intended for use as the flagship of a destroyer flotilla.
A hell ship is a ship with extremely inhumane living conditions or with a reputation for cruelty among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army to transport Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and rōmusha out of the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong and Singapore in World War II. These POWs were taken to the Japanese Islands, Formosa, Manchukuo, Korea, the Moluccas, Sumatra, Burma, or Siam to be used as forced labor.
Natori (名取) was a Nagara-class light cruiser in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named after the Natori River in Miyagi prefecture, Japan. Natori was the third vessel completed in the Nagara class of light cruisers. Like other vessels of her class, she was intended for use as the flagship of a destroyer flotilla.
Kashii was the third and final vessel completed of the three light cruisers in the Katori class, which served with the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. The ship was named after a noted Shinto shrine in Fukuoka, Japan.
Convoy Hi-81 (ヒ-81) was the designation for a formation of Japanese transports that carried soldiers bound for Singapore and the Philippines during World War II. The transports were escorted by a large force of surface combatants including the escort carriers Shinyo and Akitsu Maru which were sunk in the Yellow Sea by American submarines. Over the course of a four-day convoy battle in November 1944 nearly 7,000 Japanese were killed in action while the Americans sustained no casualties.
Yasukuni Maru (靖国丸) was a Japanese ocean liner owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK). The ship was launched in 1930 by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Nagasaki, on the southern island of Kyūshū, Japan, entering service in 1930. The ship was named for the Yasukuni Shrine, a famous Shinto shrine dedicated to the war dead of Japan, located in Tokyo.
Tamatsu Maru was a World War II Japanese landing craft depot ship completed in January 1944 and remembered for the heavy loss of life when sunk by USS Spadefish on 19 August 1944. Between 4,406 and 4,755 Japanese soldiers and seamen drowned.
Mayasan Maru (摩耶山丸) was a Japanese landing craft depot ship used extensively to transport Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) troops during 1943 and 1944. After avoiding damage in seven separate submarine attacks in earlier convoys, she was sunk in the East China Sea by the submarine USS Picuda on 17 November 1944 while part of Convoy Hi-81. The sinking caused one of the highest maritime casualty counts of World War II. Some 3,536 people died.
Aikoku Maru (愛国丸) was an armed merchant cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II. The ship entered service in 1940, the ship was later converted to an ammunition ship. She was sunk in February 1944 during Operation Hailstone.
Convoy Hi-71 (ヒ-71) was one of the World War II Hi convoys of fast tankers and troop transports from Japan to Singapore. The heavily defended convoy was specially loaded with reinforcements for defense of the Philippines, and encountered a wolfpack of United States Navy submarines in the South China Sea after being scattered by an August 1944 typhoon. Personnel losses were high because heavy seas prevented rescue of crewmen from sunken ships.
SS Tamahoko Maru was a Japanese passenger-cargo ship, used as a hell ship, which was torpedoed by submarine USS Tang on 24 June 1944, carrying 772 Allied POWs of which 560 died.
Hokkai Maru was a Kinai Maru-class auxiliary transport of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She participated in the Japanese occupation of British Borneo and was part of ill-fated convoy HI-71.
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