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General Ship Modeling
Discuss modeling techniques, experiences, and ship modeling in general.
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What does "Maru" stand for?
chip250
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Wisconsin, United States
Joined: September 01, 2002
KitMaker: 1,864 posts
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Posted: Monday, March 08, 2004 - 02:01 PM UTC
Reading my book, they were put on a ship called "something Maru".

Is "Maru" the Japanese equivilant to U.S.S.?

~cHip :-)
Kencelot
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Florida, United States
Joined: December 27, 2001
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Posted: Monday, March 08, 2004 - 02:18 PM UTC
One of the largest, yet most forgotten, maritime disasters of WWII.

The "Junyo Maru" was a Japanese cargo ship. There were over 6500 Dutch, British, American and Australian POWs and Javanese slave labourers aboard her when she was hit by a torpedoe off the western coast of Sumatra by a British submarine HMS Tradewind in September 1944. 5620 perished.
War_Machine
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Washington, United States
Joined: February 11, 2003
KitMaker: 702 posts
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Posted: Monday, March 08, 2004 - 02:31 PM UTC
According to my Mom, who is Japanese, maru is an traditional title bestowed upon all civilian ships. It's just a word tacked on to the ship's name to make sure it's known as a civilian vessel. Warships are never given the maru title.
AJLaFleche
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Massachusetts, United States
Joined: May 05, 2002
KitMaker: 8,074 posts
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Posted: Monday, March 08, 2004 - 03:59 PM UTC
This site http://www.historicaldatabase.com/newpage2.htm reiterates Ed's statement , indicating "Maru" = "Merchant"
Leopold
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Singapore / 新加坡
Joined: January 26, 2004
KitMaker: 446 posts
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Posted: Monday, March 08, 2004 - 08:56 PM UTC
yup..u can still see them in some japanese cargo ships today
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