• 2. Hospital Ship
• 1937-1945

• ●Suspension of the Japan-Seattle Line and Repatriation of Japanese Citizens Abroad

  The Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, followed by World War II in 1939. After that, services on ocean routes had to be suspended one after another as the war worsened. The situation in the Pacific rapidly intensified. The Japan- Seattle line was suspended on August 17 of the same year, bringing to close a history of 45 years of service since 1896. Hikawa Maru’s final prewar voyage (73rd voyage) came to an end when the vessel arrived in Osaka on July 20, 1941, in October of the same year, the ship was requisitioned by Japan’s Ministry of Communications to serve as a repatriation ship. Hikawa Maru then ran between Yokohama and Seattle.

  ●Becoming a Hospital Ship

  Immediately after Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokohama, the ship was requisitioned by the navy and remodeled to serve as an auxiliary hospital ship. On November 21, 1941, the vessel was moored at a wharf of the Shipbuilding Department of the Yokosuka Naval Yard for refitting and outfitting. This was finished at the end of December. In accordance with the international treaty, the hull and funnel were painted white, one green line was painted on both sides of the hull, and the Red Cross emblem was painted at the center of both sides of the ship and funnel. Although the first-class and second-class lounges, the deluxe cabin, the central stairway, and some other areas were left unchanged, most of the cabin and hold areas were refitted and hospital equipment and sickrooms were installed.

  ●Heading for the Southern War Zone

  The hospital ship to take aboard injured and sick soldiers and transport them to Japan. The ship’s other duties included medical treatment, hygiene inspections, disinfection, and supplying medicine to the war zones and warships. Hikawa Maru would travel to Truk, Rabaul, Balikpapan, Jakarta, Saipan, Manila, and other places during the three and a half years before the war ended, taking aboard and transporting over 30,000 wounded and sick soldiers back to mainland Japan on a total of 24 voyages. Hikawa Maru also struck mines on three separate occasions the ship was able to avoid major damage thanks to its steel plates,which were thicker than those of other ships.

• 

  Hikawa Maru of the hospital ship

  

  Taking wounded/sick soldiers aboard on a stretcher

• 3. Transportation of Repatriated Citizens amd Repatriated
  Japanese Citizens、Merchant Ship
• 1945-1951

• ●Transportation of Demobilized Soldiers

  Hikawa Maru, which stayed at Maizuru when the war ended, was chartered by the Department of Veterans Affairs II and transported demobilized soldiers from September 15, 1945 to August 15, 1946, while also serving as a hospital ship. The destinations of Hikawa Maru for the rescue of these demobilized soldiers included Wake Island, Kusaie Island, Wewak, Fauro Island, Rabaul, Keelung, Morotai Island, Manado, Seram Island, Halmahera Island, Salmis (New Guinea), Hollandia (New Guinea), and Shanghai. In total, the ship transported almost 20,000 soldiers in seven voyages.

  ●Transportation of Repatriated Japanese Citizens

  After completing its mission to transport demobilized soldiers, Hikawa Maru was transferred from the Department of Veterans Affairs II to the Civilian Merchant Marine Committee effective August 15, 1946. Hikawa Maru transported approximately 8,000 people on three voyages between Huludao and Hakata and one voyage between Manila and Nagoya. On January 12, 1947, the ship’s mission in the hands of the government came to an end.

  ●Hokkaido Line

  After being derequisitioned as a hospital ship, Hikawa Maru was docked at Yokohama Ship Yard & Engine Works (currently Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.), where the vessel spent approximately one month being refitted as a merchant ship. The holds were restored to how they were when the vessel had been a cargo-passenger liner, and the hull and funnel were repainted jet black. Since the GHQ did not yet permit Japan to operate routes to foreign countries, under the control of the CMMC, Hikawa Maru launched a regular service in March 1947 connecting Osaka and Yokohama with Hokkaido.

  ●Oceangoing Service

  It was September 1949 when Hikawa Maru returned to an irregular ocean liner service. The ship was tasked with the mission to transport rice from Burma (currently Myanmar) and Thailand. Around this time, the controls placed on Japan’s shipping industry were gradually being eased. Although Hikawa Maru had been under the control of the CMMC since April 1949, ship management was the responsibility of the ship’s owner (NYK), and the vessel obtained Lloyd's Register of Shipping certification again in December. In April 1950, ships could once again be independently operated.

• 

  Hikawa Maru transporting demobilized soldiers

  

  A poster from the time when Hikawa Maru was under the control of the CMMC

• 4. Resumption of Liner Service
• 1951-1960

• ●Path to Return

  In 1950, NYK submitted a request to the GHQ for permission to resume the Japan-Seattle line. The following year, the GHQ permitted a regular liner service of once per month, and four cargo liners were assigned to this line in October. From March 1951, Hikawa Maru underwent a major refitting that took about two and a half months and restored its prewar form as a cargo-passenger liner. The ship was assigned to the Japan-New York and Japan-Europe lines, and then returned to the regular Japan-Seattle line.

  ●Returning to Service on the Japan-Seattle Line

  Having returned to service on the Japan-Seattle line, Hikawa Maru made seven voyages annually connecting the Japanese cities of Kobe, Nagoya, Shimizu, and Yokohama with the North American cities of Seattle and Vancouver on the outward voyage, and then Seattle with the Japanese cities of Yokohama and Kobe on the return voyage (temporarily calling at Honolulu). Many young people — including American Field Service (AFS) students, self-financed foreign students, and Fulbright students — crossed the ocean aboard this ship. The number of Fulbright students who crossed the ocean on Hikawa Maru reached 2,500 in seven years from 1953.

  ●The Final Voyage

  Although Hikawa Maru was active as a cargo passenger liner again after returning to the Japan-Seattle line, the ship’s age and the growth of airline services led to the decision to finally decommission the vessel in 1960. With more passengers now traveling by air and more cargo being transported by dedicated vessels, NYK withdrew from the passenger business. Hikawa Maru brought down the curtain on the Japan-Seattle line launched by NYK in 1896. Having been in service for 30 years, Hikawa Maru made 254 voyages across the Pacific Ocean and carried more than 25,000 passengers in total during its lifetime.

• 

  Hikawa Maru steaming out of Yokohama

  

  All crew members after completion of their final voyage on Hikawa Maru

• 5. A Symbol of Yokohama
• 1960-

• ●Mooring at Yokohama Harbor

  Finding Hikawa Maru moored outside the port of Yokohama, the city of Yokohama and the prefecture of Kanagawa requested NYK to moor the ship at Yamashita Park to serve as a symbol of Yokohama and act as a museum ship that could be used as both an ocean classroom and accommodations to educate young people about maritime affairs and the ocean. Upon the completion of the refitting on May 17 1961, Hikawa Maru was pulled to the pier and moored. On June 2, which is the anniversary of the opening of the port of Yokohama, Hikawa Maru was opened as an ocean classroom and youth hostel. After that, an aquarium, restaurant, beer garden, and other businesses were developed, and the accommodation business, mainly targeting students on school trips, continued until 1973.

  ●Reopened to the public

  Hikawa Maru was closed at the end of 2006, for a large-scale repair and restoration project. The interior was restored to its original state based on photographs and various materials before the war, and the ship reopened to the public as “NYK Hikawamaru” on April 25, 2008. In 2016, Hikawa Maru, the only surviving Japanese cargo-passenger ship built before World WarⅡ, was designated as an Important Cultural Property by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

• 

  Hikawa Maru at the time of its opening; Yokohama Marine Tower to the left

• Principal Particulars

• Owner

  Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line)

  Type

  Cargo-passenger liner

  Completed

  April 25, 1930

  Built by

  Yokohama Dock Company Ltd.

  Overall length

  163.30m

  Width

  20.12m

  Gross tonnage

  11,622 tons

  Max. speed

  18.38 knots

  Engine

  B&W double-acting four-cycle diesel; two engines and two propellers

  Crew members

  147 (including an additional 16)

  Passengers capacity

  286

• 

• Chronological Table