On February 25, 1944, the 6,200 ton cargo vessel Tango Maru, crammed with 3,500 Javanese labourers (romusha) and hundreds of Allied POWs, was traveling between Java and Ambon. The American submarine USS Rasher sank the ship with three torpedo hits.[1] Only about 500 Javanese survived.
On the same day USS Rasher also sank the Ryusei Maru, killing some 5,000 Japanese soldiers.
Another Japanese ship named Tango Maru, a 2,046 ton tanker, was also sunk by the Rasher, on November 8, 1943 in the Makassar Strait.[1]