Fleet and Operations
At the end of the war Japan was acutely short of large passenger ships. Only two had survived hostilities: NKK Line's Hikawa Maru and OSK Line's Takasago Maru. Both had served as hospital ships and SCAJAP requisitioned them as transport ships.
On 7 December 1945 a conference was held at Tokyo as a result of which it was recommended that 100 Liberty ships, 100 LSTs and seven hospital ships be made available to SCAJAP for repatriation. The ships were to be converted in Japan to carry repatriates and were crewed by the Japanese.
Of the shipping requested, 106 Liberties and 100 LST's were received, but only 85 of the LST's were retained for repatriation, the other 15 LST's being used to support the economy of Korea. On arrival in Japan, under direction of SCAJAP, these ships were modified to carry passengers, provided with trained Japanese crews, and p;ut in service at a rate of 25 a week. Six of the Liberties were converted into hospital ships of about 1,200 beds each. Since total available passenger capacity of these SCAJAP vessels was approximately 400,000 by the end of March 1946, all United States Seventh Fleet shipping was released from repatriation. Over 50 percent of the total Japanese repatriation fleet, with a capacity of 100,000 spaces supplemented US shipping.
(Source: Endnotes)
Read more about this topic: Shipping Control Authority For The Japanese Merchant Marine
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