Op Ten Noort, Dutch Hospital Ship

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The Op Ten Noort was completed in 1927 as a merchant ship, but was drafted by the Dutch Navy on 1 December 1941 as a hospital ship. Her subsequent career illustrates the viciousness of the Pacific War: bombed by the Japanese on February 22, 1942, in violation of the Hague Conventions; commandeered by the Japanese on February 28, in violation of the Hague Conventions; used by the Japanese in October to transport mines while in hospital colors, in violation of the Hague Conventions; strafed at Palau by American carrier aircraft in violation of the Hague Conventions; scuttled on August 17, 1945, in violation of the ceasefire. There were incidents involving hospital ships on both sides, but most of those involving the Op Ten Noort were clearly deliberate and especially egregious.

While in Japanese service the ship was known as the Tenno Maru or Hikawa Maru #2. She was present at Truk during the Hailstone raid; the American pilots respected her hospital ship status but sank both the gunboats escorting her. The ship was twice renamed and fitted with a fake funnel by the Japanese, apparently to disguise its identity as Op Ten Noort.

References

CombinedFleet.com (accessed 2007-4-9)
NetherlandsNavy.com (accessed 2009-11-26)

Tillman (2016)
United Nations (accessed 2009-11-26)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009, 2016 by Kent G. Budge. Index

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