a naval mine on June 1, 1945, and again by an airstrike on July 14, 1945, which killed two crewmen. She was docked at Nagasaki during the final days of the war. Shinano Maru was so obsolete and rusted that noted manga artist Shigeru Mizuki wrote in his diary that the iron of the hull was so rusted and thin that he considered it miraculous that the ship remained afloat, and that even the wake of a torpedo would be enough to sink it. After the surrender of Japan, it was used as a repatriation vessel bringing back Japanese former prisoners-of-war from Siberia. One of those returning to Japan on Shinano Maru was the future novelist Shōhei Ōoka. At the beginning of the Korean War, the ship was used as a mother ship for landing operations of the U.S. Navy. Shinano Maru was sold for scrap in 1951. Notes References Corbett, J. S. (1994 reprint). Maritime operations in the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905. Naval Institute Press. . External links Clyde-built ships Auxiliary cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1900 ships Russo-Japanese War naval ships of Japan Ships built on the River Clyde Ships of the NYK Line Steamships of Japan Ocean liners