1. On March 28th, 1945, the Apomaru, which had been requisitioned by the Japanese army, loaded a large number of Japanese retreating from Southeast Asia in Singapore and sailed for Japan. At midnight on April 1st, the ship went to the sea area east of Niushan Island in Pingtan, Fujian Province, China, and was found by the American submarine "Queen Fish" cruising in the sea area. It was attacked by several torpedoes and sank quickly three minutes later. The 2009 passengers on board sank with the ship, and only one survivor got on the American rescue boat.

　　Second, this is the famous "Apomaru" shipwreck. What is the unknown secret behind this shipwreck? Why did Japanese officials suddenly give up asking for full compensation from the US military? Why did China want to salvage it at great cost? Today, let's focus on the thrilling whole process of the "Apomaru" shipwreck and reveal the story behind the "Apomaru".

　　3. The ocean tanker "Apomaru" was built in the 1940s. It is 154.9 meters long, 20.2 meters wide and 12.6 meters deep, with a gross tonnage of 11,249.4 tons. Soon after its completion, it was secretly requisitioned by the Japanese military. In 1944, Japan and the United States signed an agreement to allow the Japanese ship "Apomaru" to cross sensitive areas for the transfer of personnel in Japanese-occupied areas.

　　Four, before the signing of the agreement, the "Apomaru" had made six trips to Singapore and Japan, several of which were bombed by the US military, but it did not affect its success in transporting personnel and goods to its destination. Therefore, the Japanese military called it an "unsinkable ship", and its existence brought countless supplies to the Japanese army.

　　5. In order to ensure its absolute safety in the future trip, Japan negotiated a commercial transportation agreement with the United States. After the agreement was signed, the Japanese military transformed it into a relief cargo ship, removed its cannons and soldiers, and hung the flag of the Red Cross.

　　6. However, the Japanese military is unwilling to let the ship with such a huge transportation capacity transport only materials, so from the beginning, after obtaining the release order from the US military, it secretly transported thousands of tons of bombs and other war-ready materials to Japan.

　　Seven, at that time, in the late World War II, Japan was besieged on all sides. In addition to its continuous defeat in China, its mainland was often bombed by the US Air Force. The great ship "Apomaru" became Japan's only hope for transporting goods in the Pacific Ocean. Although American warplanes bound for Japan flew over the ship every day, it sailed intact every day with a paper agreement.

　　Eight, just when the Japanese military felt that this road was foolproof, the accident happened. On March 28, 1945, the Japanese military took advantage of the night to transport a large number of illegal items onto the ship.

　　9. With the gradual decline of the Japanese Empire in the war, the situation in the Japanese-controlled areas was extremely unstable. A large number of wealthy businessmen, military officers and their families scrambled to board the "Apomaru" and set foot on the road home, making the ship that originally could only carry 236 passengers finally carry 2009 people. But no one imagined that the ship did not bring them home safely in the end, but brought them into the extremely cold abyss.

　　Ten, when the "Apomaru" sailed into the Niu Shan waters of the Taiwan Province Strait in China, the danger approached quietly. At that time, the American submarine "Queen Fish" near it had been cruising in this sea area for more than four months, sinking countless Japanese supply ships and bringing heavy losses to the Japanese army.

　　11. At noon on April 1st, 1945, Captain Rafflin, who was in charge of commanding the submarine "Queen Fish", received a signal from the crew of the submarine "Sea Fox", which reported that it had launched an attack on a Japanese transport ship.

　　12. After nightfall, dense fog floated on the sea surface, and it was almost impossible to see the situation ahead. At this time, there was a message that there was a warship nearby. Laflin was worried that the Japanese transport ship attacked at noon would come to retaliate, but the sea area at that time was only 18 nautical miles away from the Japanese-controlled area. A full-scale attack here was likely to be violently countered by the Japanese, and Laflin hesitated.

　　13. However, considering the dense fog on the sea and the extreme weather affecting the combat effectiveness of the US military, Rafflin decided to strike first. After relying on experience and sonar to reconfirm that it was a warship, he launched a fierce attack on the great ship Apomaru. As four torpedoes hit the target one after another and made a loud noise, the Japanese "unsinkable ship" carrying honor sank into the Pacific Ocean.

　　14. Ten minutes after the battle, the submarine "Queen Fish" slowly approached the position where the great ship "Apomaru" was sunk, and found a large amount of heavy oil and rubber floating above the sunken sea area, and saved a survivor, Tanichiro, who was not the only one floating on the sea at that time, but when the US military offered a helping hand to save them, others refused and vowed to survive with the Apomaru.

　　15. At the same time, Laughlin realized that this was not a warship, but a commercial ship, but it was too late. Eight days later, the Japanese government questioned the American government about this incident and demanded compensation. And this incident was also a sensation all over the world at that time.

　　16. Afterwards, in the U.S. military court, Rafflin argued that the information of the ship could not be distinguished in the dense fog at that time, and it could only be judged according to the information provided by the sonar, which showed that the ship was a warship, and the "Sea Fox" attacked a Japanese transport ship at noon that day, so the ship that night was probably a warship sent by the Japanese to retaliate. In the face of such rhetoric, the Japanese side did not agree, and said that the US military deliberately attacked and should compensate Japan for all its losses.

　　17. Finally, the United States admits that it has an unshirkable responsibility for the sinking of the "Apomaru", but for the compensation, the United States hopes to liquidate after the war, and then it can gain the initiative as a victorious country.

　　Eighteen, but is this the only story? In court, Laflin once said that the torpedo launched by the Queen Fish was launched from the stern, which shows that once the war broke out, the Queen Fish submarine would have to turn around to pursue the Apomaru, which is extremely unfavorable for the submarine in danger. How could Laflin, as the battle-hardened commander of the US military, do such a move?

　　19. Furthermore, Ichiro Tanaka, the only survivor, once recalled that the US military has been tracking the Apomaru, and since leaving Singapore, the navy and air force have taken turns to monitor it along the way. Therefore, we have some doubts about whether the United States deliberately attacked.

　　20. What about Japan? From the very beginning, you didn't keep the agreement, illegally transported, and the transported materials were just ammunition? Actually, it is not. It is said that there were not only war preparations on board at that time, but also 40 tons of gold, 12 tons of platinum, 40 boxes of jewelry and cultural relics, and there were even rumors that there were Peking man skulls on board.

　　21. Why did Japan transfer a lot of treasures? What is the meaning of this? And why did the great ship "Apomaru" sink after four torpedoes, which has been attacked several times during the voyage and successfully escaped from danger? What's more, in 1973, Japan's former Lieutenant General Masaharu Inada declared that the Apomaru, which set off from Singapore at that time, was equipped with a self-explosive device, so the statement that the Apomaru was a self-explosive shipwreck was strongly supported.

　　Twenty-two, otherwise, why did the Japanese except Tian Kanichiro refuse the rescue of the US military? After the defeat, why did Japan still keep silent about compensation on the brink of economic collapse and compensate the families of the victims at its own expense? There must be more skeletons in this closet.

　　23. After the sinking of the ship, the eyes of the international community were focused on the "Apomaru" which was rumored to contain countless treasures. Many countries hoped to salvage the sunken ship. However, according to the international maritime laws and regulations, China has all the rights and interests in salvaging the "Apomaru", and no other country can salvage it without our permission.

　　24. At that time, China's society had just recovered, and the domestic economic situation was not optimistic. If the ship could be successfully salvaged, it would certainly bring huge benefits to the country, so the central government decided that the navy and the Ministry of Communications would jointly salvage the sunken ship. At that time, western countries thought it was a joke. Without their help, it was absolutely impossible to salvage such a huge sunken ship with China's strength at that time.

　　25. But China will always be the country that can defeat the impossible and try its best to win. After four years, our salvage team did not fear hardships and sacrifices, and finally successfully salvaged most of the items in the sunken ship, and the great ship "Apomaru", which had been sleeping for more than 20 years, came to light again.

　　26. When China announced the results of salvaging the sunken ship, the world was shocked. China once again blocked the ridicule of western countries and proved that "we can" with strength and dedication.

　　Twenty-seven, although the intelligence of all parties has confirmed the existence of gold, the fact of salvage is contrary to this. If gold really exists, there is only one explanation, that is, the shipwreck was the result of the Japanese themselves exploding and sinking. As the self-destruct button was pressed, the box full of gold was gone, and there was no trace to be found.

　　Twenty-eight, although we didn't salvage gold this time, we didn't get nothing. Besides 50 million worth of articles, our salvage technology was greatly improved. Our country also trained a maritime rescue team, and the time we spent salvaging sunken ships was shorter than expected by any western country. Our China speed surprised the world.

　　Twenty-nine, so far, the "Apomaru" shipwreck has come to an end, and the true and false news can't be confirmed. One mystery after another can only be gradually forgotten along with the shipwreck.