| Original caption: “USS Essex-based TBMs and SB2Cs dropping bombs on Hokadate, Japan.” Grumman/General Motors TBM Avengers and Curtiss SB2C Helldivers from USS Essex (CV-9), all carrying 1,000 pound (450 kilogram) bombs, strike shipping in the Tsugaru Straits between Hakodate and Aomori. The Seikan Ferry, connecting the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, began in April 1924. The ferries allowed trains to move between the ports of Aomori and Hakodate. Since the Seikan train ferries, carrying cargo trains, were a vital supply link from Hokkaido to Honshu, they were also a military target. Most Seikan ferries were actually outfitted with machine guns. Seikan train ferries transported Hokkaido’s coal and foodstuffs to Honshu. Hokkaido produced 30 percent of Japan’s coal production. Coal was essential to Japan’s military industries for steel production and power generation. Although it was more efficient to transport the coal directly by ship from Hokkaido to industrial zones in Honshu, most cargo ships had already been sunk. Rail transportation, therefore, became the primary means of transporting cargo. 3 days before the air attack, Seikan ferry management knew that an attack was imminent and requested the Japanese military to allow the ferries to evacuate to a safe place. However, the truly insane and suicidal Japanese military rejected it, saying that putting the Seikan ferries on holiday even for a day would imply that the war was lost. Since bad weather prevented attacks on the primary targets on July 14, 1945, airfields in northern Honshu and Hokkaido, planes from Task Force 38 hit shipping, rail facilities, and ground installations in those areas instead. The 1st ferry to be attacked was Seikan Maru Number 4, under the command of Captain Toru Numata (1910 – 1945). His daughter, Seiko Yoshimura (born 1937), recalled, “My father was on vacation that day, but suddenly the duty captain took a day off, and my father went instead. My mother tried to stop him from going, but my father said, ‘If I don’t go, someone else has to go.‘“Seikan Maru Number 4 was the only 1 unarmed and totally defenseless. It sank after 45 minutes and 400 passengers and crew died, including Numata, who left behind 4 children and a pregnant wife. The wreck was located in July 2020. While heading for Hakodate in the Tsugaru Straits, Seikan Maru Number 3 was attacked and sunk by 50 carrier aircraft on July 14, 1945, near Cape Yagoshi near Hakodate. The ferry shot back with its machine guns, but ran out of ammunition. A torpedo sank the ferry. Only 13 of the 77 crew survived after being rescued by a passing ship. The United States 3rd Fleet launched 966 sorties on July 15, 1945, against the Seikan Ferries and airfields at Sendai. Another 296 Carrier Air Patrols were also launched. This attack was the 2nd day of strikes on shipping to destroy the ferry link between Hokkaido and Honshu. USS Essex launched 8 Grumman F6F Hellcats, 8 Vought F4U Corsairs, 14 Curtiss SB2C Helldivers, and 15 Grumman/General Motors TBM Avengers at 0406 Hours to strike the Seikan Ferries in the Tsugaru Straits. This strike returned to the carrier by 0845 Hours, having not reached the target area due to weather. This same strike package went out at 1153 Hours, which struck targets in the Tsugaru Straits and returned at 1654 Hours. Although the Seikan train ferries were decimated, Japanese newspapers the next day reported that damage from the air attack was “extremely light.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii1627.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.08 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 5684 x 4502 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Navy |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | July 15, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Tsugaru-Kaikyo |
| State or Province | Aomori |
| Country | Japan |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 80-G-490232 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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