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.
Background
The Yasukuni Maru and her sister ship Terukuni Maru were built for NYK's fortnightly scheduled high-speed European service, coming into operation from the autumn of 1930. Both ships were specially designed for tropical conditions, with state-of-the-art air conditioning and fresh air circulation systems, as their routing was south from Japan, through the Indian Ocean, Suez Canal and Mediterranean Sea. Both ships were initially designed for use with geared turbine engines for projected cruising speed of 18 knots. However, under increasing pressure from the Japanese government to use only equipment and technologies available domestically, the design was changed to use standard Mitsubishi-Sulzer marine diesel engines, which reduced cruising speed to 15 knots.
The 11,933-ton steel-hulled vessel had a length of , and a beam of , with a single funnel, two masts, and double screws. Yasukuni Maru provided accommodation for 121 first-class passengers and 68 second class passengers. There was also room for up to 60 third-class passengers. The ship and passengers were served by a crew of 177.
Civilian career
Yasukuni Maru departed Yokohama on her maiden voyage on 22 September 1930 for London, with ports of call in between at Yokkaichi, Osaka, Kobe, Moji, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Penang, Colombo, Aden, Suez, Port Said, Marseilles, and Gibraltar. On her return to Yokohama, she substituted Naples for Marseilles and arrived back at Yokohama on 18 October 1930. Thereafter, she entered regular service with NYK, following the same routing.
On 23 June 1933, Yasukuni Maru rescued five crewmen from a sinking Chinese junk near Hong Kong.
On 5 April 1934, Yasukuni Maru responded to a distress call from the Imperial Japanese Navy training cruiser at Port Said, Egypt, and took off several ill sailors including an appendicitis patient.
On 12 March 1935, when Yasukuni Maru docked at London, it was reported that a silver ingot had been stolen from her treasury.
Yasukuni Maru carried the Japanese Olympic team back from Germany after the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
On 16 November 1937, Yasukuni Maru became the first ship on the Europe-Japan route to be equipped with a two-way ship-to-shore wireless telephone for passengers to make telephone calls.
On 2 October 1938, Yasukuni Maru transported an art mission consisting of 30 Takarasiennes from the Takarazuka Revue, together with 18 managers, orchestra members and support staff from Kobe to Naples for an art mission to Germany and Italy commemorating the first anniversary of the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact.
In September – October 1939, at the request of the Foreign Ministry, Yasukuni Maru evacuated 240 Japanese civilians, members of the diplomatic staff and some German nationals from Germany on the verge of World War II. She returned to Yokohama on 18 October and was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy on 25 October to 11 December for use as an auxiliary transport, and was briefly used to transport troops and war materials from Japan to China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. However, as the war situation stabilized, she was returned to NYK.
With the situation in Europe regarded as unsafe following the sinking of Terukuni Maru off the coast of Great Britain by a naval mine, Yasukuni Maru was rescheduled for use on NYK's route from Kobe to South America via Honolulu, Hilo, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
On 8 August 1940 Yasukuni Maru embarked 30 German pilots previously employed in Colombia for return to Germany.