Able Seaman, SS Ascot, Merchant Navy, aged 21 years. NOK Neils Anderson, Nordre, Koldings, Denmark.
Indian Ocean, 800 miles NW of Diego Suarez. At 11.30, Japanese submarine I-37, commanded by Nakagawa Hajime, fired two torpedoes at 7,005-ton British armed cargo steamer ASCOT, independently on route from Calcutta to Port Louis, Mauritius, with 9,000 tons of general cargo. After one hit to her engine room the steamer went dead in the water, four sailors were killed in the blast. Fifty two survivors board a lifeboat and a raft. I-37 surfaced starboard of the abandoned steamer and her medical officer attempts to identify ASCOT's skipper and the chief officer. When the survivors claim that all senior officers had been killed, several warning shots are fired from the submarine. ASCOT's master, Capt James Fawcett Travis identifies himself in an attempt to prevent any casualties. Travis and his Chief Officer Claude Blackett are taken aboard the submarine and then both dismissed following a brief interrogation. I-37 first scuttles the wreck of ASCOT by shellfire and then rams and machine guns the occupants of the lifeboat and raft. Only 4 sailors and 3 gunners are rescued on 3 March by Dutch steamer Straat Soenda.
During I-37 war patrol in 1944, Cdr. Nakagawa commited the most cruel war crimes against crew of merchant ships, using the deck gun to kill the surviving crew and sinking lifeboats. The victims were: British Chivalry (13 machine gunned), Sutlej (50 machine-gunned) and Ascot (45 machine gunned).
In January 1947, Cdr Nakagawa pleaded guilty for his wartime crimes before the International Military Tribunal in Tokyo. He was sentenced to 8 years of hard labor. He served six years and was released on probation after the end of the Allied Occupation. In 1978, historical research found him responsible for having sunk the Australian hospital ship HMAS Centaur, while he was commander of I-177 (268 killed)
(wrecksite.eu)
Indian Ocean, 800 miles NW of Diego Suarez. At 11.30, Japanese submarine I-37, commanded by Nakagawa Hajime, fired two torpedoes at 7,005-ton British armed cargo steamer ASCOT, independently on route from Calcutta to Port Louis, Mauritius, with 9,000 tons of general cargo. After one hit to her engine room the steamer went dead in the water, four sailors were killed in the blast. Fifty two survivors board a lifeboat and a raft. I-37 surfaced starboard of the abandoned steamer and her medical officer attempts to identify ASCOT's skipper and the chief officer. When the survivors claim that all senior officers had been killed, several warning shots are fired from the submarine. ASCOT's master, Capt James Fawcett Travis identifies himself in an attempt to prevent any casualties. Travis and his Chief Officer Claude Blackett are taken aboard the submarine and then both dismissed following a brief interrogation. I-37 first scuttles the wreck of ASCOT by shellfire and then rams and machine guns the occupants of the lifeboat and raft. Only 4 sailors and 3 gunners are rescued on 3 March by Dutch steamer Straat Soenda.
During I-37 war patrol in 1944, Cdr. Nakagawa commited the most cruel war crimes against crew of merchant ships, using the deck gun to kill the surviving crew and sinking lifeboats. The victims were: British Chivalry (13 machine gunned), Sutlej (50 machine-gunned) and Ascot (45 machine gunned).
In January 1947, Cdr Nakagawa pleaded guilty for his wartime crimes before the International Military Tribunal in Tokyo. He was sentenced to 8 years of hard labor. He served six years and was released on probation after the end of the Allied Occupation. In 1978, historical research found him responsible for having sunk the Australian hospital ship HMAS Centaur, while he was commander of I-177 (268 killed)
(wrecksite.eu)
Able Seaman, SS Ascot, Merchant Navy, aged 21 years. NOK Neils Anderson, Nordre, Koldings, Denmark.
Indian Ocean, 800 miles NW of Diego Suarez. At 11.30, Japanese submarine I-37, commanded by Nakagawa Hajime, fired two torpedoes at 7,005-ton British armed cargo steamer ASCOT, independently on route from Calcutta to Port Louis, Mauritius, with 9,000 tons of general cargo. After one hit to her engine room the steamer went dead in the water, four sailors were killed in the blast. Fifty two survivors board a lifeboat and a raft. I-37 surfaced starboard of the abandoned steamer and her medical officer attempts to identify ASCOT's skipper and the chief officer. When the survivors claim that all senior officers had been killed, several warning shots are fired from the submarine. ASCOT's master, Capt James Fawcett Travis identifies himself in an attempt to prevent any casualties. Travis and his Chief Officer Claude Blackett are taken aboard the submarine and then both dismissed following a brief interrogation. I-37 first scuttles the wreck of ASCOT by shellfire and then rams and machine guns the occupants of the lifeboat and raft. Only 4 sailors and 3 gunners are rescued on 3 March by Dutch steamer Straat Soenda.
During I-37 war patrol in 1944, Cdr. Nakagawa commited the most cruel war crimes against crew of merchant ships, using the deck gun to kill the surviving crew and sinking lifeboats. The victims were: British Chivalry (13 machine gunned), Sutlej (50 machine-gunned) and Ascot (45 machine gunned).
In January 1947, Cdr Nakagawa pleaded guilty for his wartime crimes before the International Military Tribunal in Tokyo. He was sentenced to 8 years of hard labor. He served six years and was released on probation after the end of the Allied Occupation. In 1978, historical research found him responsible for having sunk the Australian hospital ship HMAS Centaur, while he was commander of I-177 (268 killed)
(wrecksite.eu)
Indian Ocean, 800 miles NW of Diego Suarez. At 11.30, Japanese submarine I-37, commanded by Nakagawa Hajime, fired two torpedoes at 7,005-ton British armed cargo steamer ASCOT, independently on route from Calcutta to Port Louis, Mauritius, with 9,000 tons of general cargo. After one hit to her engine room the steamer went dead in the water, four sailors were killed in the blast. Fifty two survivors board a lifeboat and a raft. I-37 surfaced starboard of the abandoned steamer and her medical officer attempts to identify ASCOT's skipper and the chief officer. When the survivors claim that all senior officers had been killed, several warning shots are fired from the submarine. ASCOT's master, Capt James Fawcett Travis identifies himself in an attempt to prevent any casualties. Travis and his Chief Officer Claude Blackett are taken aboard the submarine and then both dismissed following a brief interrogation. I-37 first scuttles the wreck of ASCOT by shellfire and then rams and machine guns the occupants of the lifeboat and raft. Only 4 sailors and 3 gunners are rescued on 3 March by Dutch steamer Straat Soenda.
During I-37 war patrol in 1944, Cdr. Nakagawa commited the most cruel war crimes against crew of merchant ships, using the deck gun to kill the surviving crew and sinking lifeboats. The victims were: British Chivalry (13 machine gunned), Sutlej (50 machine-gunned) and Ascot (45 machine gunned).
In January 1947, Cdr Nakagawa pleaded guilty for his wartime crimes before the International Military Tribunal in Tokyo. He was sentenced to 8 years of hard labor. He served six years and was released on probation after the end of the Allied Occupation. In 1978, historical research found him responsible for having sunk the Australian hospital ship HMAS Centaur, while he was commander of I-177 (268 killed)
(wrecksite.eu)
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