Djemnah ~ 14 July 1918

Hirano-Maru ~ 4 October 1918

The Hirano-Maru was a Japanese merchant ship operating in the Japan-Europe trade, having been built in 1908. On October 4, 1918, while en route from Liverpool to Yokohama, she was torpedoed in the Irish Sea during a strong hale by U-91.

She sank quickly ... some say five minutes, others say seven. The seas were high and no lifeboats could be gotten away, all being smashed against the sides of the ship. There are varying reports of the number of people lost, but it appears that about 292 of the 320 people aboard perished. 

More people could probably have been saved, but initial rescue efforts by the escorting USS Sterrett had to be temporarily halted so the escort could go chase away the sub, which was attempting to torpedo it during rescue operations. There is no way of knowing the number of survivors desperately clinging to floating bits of wreckage who succumbed to the chill waters of the North Atlantic while the rescue ship was off chasing away the U-boat. Bodies washed ashore in Wales quite some time afterwards.

About 15 Japanese merchant ships were sunk by U-boat activity during World War I. Hirano-Maru was not the largest of these, but her sinking did involve the greatest loss of life, with the others suffering very minor losses by comparison.

Leinster ~ 10 October 1918

Tripoli ~ 17 March 1918

The SS Tripoli, was built by Cant. Nav. Riuniti, Palermo in 1912 and owned at the time of her loss by Soc. Italiana di Servizi Marittimi, Venice. She was an Italian passenger steamer of 1,743 tons.

On March 17, 1918, a dark stormy night, the Tripoli was torpedoed and sunk off Capo Figari by U-49 (Hans von Mellenthin). The torpedo struck the engine room of the overloaded ship.

It took the Tripoli four hours to go down. As her communication equipment was out of order, she could not send a distress call.  Of the 457 people on board, 268 were lost: 38 crewmen out of 63; 147 military out of 376; and 4 civilians out of 18 (3 men and a woman). 

Chaouia ~ 15 January 1919

The SS Chaouia was built by Koninklijke Maatschappij 'De Schelde', Vlissingen in 1896 and owned at the time of her loss by Cie. de Navigation Paquet N., Marseille. She was a French passenger steamer of 4,334 tons.

On January 15, 1919, on a voyage from Marseille to Batoum with passengers and general cargo, she was sunk in the Straits of Messina by a mine from the UC-53 (Erich Gerth). The ship sank at night and went down in only 3-4 minutes.

The Chaouia was carrying 660 passengers, of which 401 were military (primarily Greek troops). 476 people were lost. Of the 184 survivors, 53 were crew and 131 were passengers. Most of the survivors were saved by the British steamer Daghestan.

VIDEO ~ Surviving the U-Boats