NYK Line Hikawa Maru

The Hikawa Maru is a retired Japanese ocean liner built by Yokohama Dock Company for Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line). Launched on 30 September 1929 and completed on 25 April 1930, she left Kobe on her maiden voyage to Seattle on 13 May 1930 and quickly earned the nickname "Queen of the Pacific" for her splendid food, beautiful Art Deco interiors, and reliable trans-Pacific service.

On 1 December 1941, just one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor, conversion of the Hikawa Maru into a naval hospital ship began at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal (she had been requisitioned on 21 November), and the work was completed by 21 December. During her wartime service, she made numerous voyages as a hospital ship, evacuating wounded and sick personnel from across the Pacific and Southeast Asia. On 15 June 1942, she tended to approximately 500 survivors of the Battle of Midway, delivered to her by the cruiser Nagara.

The Hikawa Maru was detected by American submarines on several occasions, but her clearly marked hospital ship status saved her from attack. She was, however, damaged by mines on three separate occasions: near Surabaya on 3 October 1942, off the Caroline Islands on 15 July 1944, and in the Johor Strait off Singapore in February 1945 (sources give 14 or 22 February). Thanks to her thick steel plating, she survived all three incidents and became one of only two large Japanese passenger ships to survive the war.

After Japan's surrender, the Hikawa Maru was placed under SCAJAP (Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers - Shipping Control Authority for the Japanese Merchant Marine) control from September 1945 to August 1946, during which time she repatriated thousands of Japanese soldiers and civilians from the Pacific Islands, Korea, the Dutch East Indies, and China.

The ship was permanently moored at Yamashita Park in Yokohama in 1961 and reopened to the public on 25 April 2008 following extensive restoration. On 17 August 2016, the Hikawa Maru was designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan, recognizing her outstanding historical significance as the sole surviving large-scale Japanese pre-war ocean liner.