FUSETSUKAN!

© 2009 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall

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1944:
Laid down at Sasebo Navy Yard as a minelayer.

1945:
Launched and named AWASHIMA.

15 August 1945:
Japan accepts the Allies “Potsdam Declaration” (of unconditional surrender) and hostilities cease.

15 September 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.

1 October 1945:
Work on completing the vessel resumes.

3 February 1946:
Officially assigned to the Allied Repatriation Service. [1]

18 April 1946:
Completed.

23 April 1946:
Departs Sasebo on her first repatriation voyage.

25 April 1946:
Arrives at Shanghai. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated.

30 April 1946:
Departs Shanghai.

2 May 1946:
Arrives at Sasebo. Disembarks troops and passengers.

12 May 1946:
Enters dockyard at Sasebo for repairs.

21 May 1946:
Repairs are completed.

22 May 1946:
Departs Sasebo.

25 May 1946:
Arrives at Shanghai. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated.

27 May 1946:
Departs Shanghai.

29 May 1946:
Arrives at Sasebo. Disembarks troops and passengers.

4 June 1946:
Departs Sasebo.

7 June 1946 :
Arrives at Shanghai. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and departs later that day.

11 June 1946:
Arrives at Shanghai. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated.

16 July 1946:
Departs Sasebo.

19 July 1946:
Arrives at Korojima near Tsientsin. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated.

21 July 1946:
Departs Korojima.

26 July 1946:
Arrives at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.

5 August 1946:
Enters dockyard at Koyagijima for repairs.

21 August 1946:
Repairs are completed.

22 August 1946:
Departs Sasebo.

28 August 1946:
Arrives at Korojima. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated and departs later the same day.

1 September 1946:
Arrives at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.

8 September 1946:
Departs Hakata.

11 September 1946:
Arrives at Korojima. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated.

15 September 1946:
Departs Korojima.

19 September 1946:
Arrives at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.

28 September 1946:
Departs Hakata.

2 October 1946:
Arrives at Korojima. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated.

5 October 1946:
Arrives at Korojima.

8 October 1946:
Arrives at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.

19 October 1946:
Departs Hakata.

22 October 1946:
Arrives at Korojima. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated.

2 November 1946:
Departs Korojima.

5 November 1946:
Arrives at Hakata. Disembarks troops and passengers.

19 November 1946:
Departs Kure.

21 November 1946:
Arrives at Naha. Embarks troops and passengers to be repatriated.

22 November 1946:
Departs Naha.

24 November 1946:
Arrives at Kure. Disembarks troops and passengers.

18 June 1947:
Dai-ichi Building, Tokyo. Japanese warships are to be divided into four roughly equal lots among the "Big Four" victorious nations (i.e. U.S., U.K., USSR, China). Vice Admiral Robert M. Griffin, commander of U.S. Naval Forces, Far East, conducts the first drawing of lots.

1 October 1947:
AWASHIMA is ceded to the U. S. Navy as a war reparation. Later, scrapped.

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Authors' Notes:
[1] Allied occupation forces were responsible for the return of six million Japanese military personnel and civilians from Japan's defunct far-flung Empire. In addition, there were over a million Korean and about 40,000 Chinese prisoners and conscript laborers and approximately 7,000 Formosans and 15,000 Ryukyu Islanders to be repatriated.

Some Allied and many former IJN warships, from aircraft carriers to kaibokan, were used to facilitate the enormous repatriation effort. Japanese vessels and crews were used to the fullest extent possible to conserve Allied manpower and accelerate demobilization. Each ex-IJN ship first had to be demilitarized; guns removed or, in the case of large warships, barrels severed, ammunition landed, and radar and catapults removed, if fitted. Repatriation of the Chinese on Japanese ships began early in October from Hakata, but U.S. guard detachments had to be placed on many ships to prevent disorder because the Japanese crews could not control the returnees.

Japanese-run repatriation centers were established at Kagoshima, Hario near Sasebo, and Hakata near Fukuoka. Other reception centers were established and operated at Maizuru, Shimonoseki, Sasebo, Senzaki, Kure, Uraga, Yokohama, Moji and Hakodate. Allied line and medical personnel supervised the centers. Incoming Japanese were sprayed with DDT, examined and inoculated for typhus and smallpox, provided with food, and transported to his final destination in Japan.

-Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall

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