World War II Database

Japanese passenger-cargo ship Montevideo Maru, launched in 1926, was pressed into military service during WW2. On 1 Jul 1942, while transporting 1,054 prisoners, most of which Australian, she was torpedoed and sunk by submarine USS Sturgeon in the South China Sea. All prisoners died in the sinking, as did 68 of the 88 Japanese crew members and armed guards aboard. The wreck was discovered by an autonomous underwater vehicle from mothership Fugro Equator on 18 Apr 2023 at the depth of more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). The wreck was made a war grave site.

For more information:
CNN: World War II shipwreck of SS Montevideo Maru, which sank with over 1,000 POWs, found in South China Sea