SS Op Ten Noort was a passenger steamship that was launched in the Netherlands in 1927. She was built for the Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM, the "Royal Packet Navigation Company"), who operated her in the Dutch East Indies. Op Ten Noort means "Up North".
In 1941 the Royal Netherlands Navy requisitioned her for conversion into a hospital ship. In 1942 Japan captured her and renamed her Tenno Maru. In 1944 she was renamed Hikawa Maru No.2. She was scuttled just after the surrender of Japan in 1945.
Building
In the 1920s Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij in Amsterdam built a pair of passenger ships for KPM. The first was built as yard number 166, launched in September 1923 as Plancius, and completed in February 1924. A sister ship was built as yard number 185, launched on 12 February 1927 as Op Ten Noort, and completed in August 1927. Op Ten Noort means "Up The North".
Op Ten Noorts registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . Her tonnages were , , and . She had berths for 2,640 passengers: 131 in first class, 52 in second class, and 2,457 on deck.
Both Plancius and Op Ten Noort had twin screws. However, whereas Plancius had a pair of conventional quadruple-expansion engines, Op Ten Noort had a pair of four-cylinder compound engines built by Werkspoor. The engines were built to a patented design by Hugo Lentz, which includes radically improved valvegear. The combined power of Op Ten Noorts two engines was rated at 616 NHP or , and gave her a speed of .
Civilian service
KPM registered the ship at Batavia, Dutch East Indies, where the company was headquartered. Her code letters were TFCQ. She began her maiden voyage on November 9, 1927. She joined Plancius on the route from Singapore to Tanjung Priok via Bangkok, Saigon, Manila, the Maluku Islands, and Bali. In later years, KPM transferred Plancius and Op Ten Noort to serve the east coast of Java, from Batavia to Deli Serdang Regency via Muntok, Singapore and Belawan.
Her first class cabins each had one or two berths. Her first class public areas included lounges, bars, a smoking room, and a tropical verandah. In 1933 part of her first class accommodation was converted into two two-person de luxe suites with lounge, bedroom, two bathrooms, and private deck (veranda). She had 18 second class cabins, which had either two or four berths. Deck passengers were accommodated on her tweendeck, which had a lounge and a cafeteria.
In 1934 the call sign PKEA superseded her code letters.
Hospital ship
On 8 December 1941 Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies. The Royal Dutch Navy requisitioned Op Ten Noort for conversion into a hospital ship. She was converted in the Dutch naval yard at Surabaya. On January 22, 1942 the Dutch Government notified the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo of the ship's new status. On February 4, 1942 the Japanese Foreign Ministry and Naval Ministry acknowledged her status change via the Swedish Embassy.
The conversion was completed on February 19, and she started her first voyage as a hospital ship on February 21. Japan had signed the Hague Convention of 1907 that made attacking a hospital ship a war crime. However, when she was only a few hours out of port, Japanese aircraft bombed her in the Java Sea. One bomb hit her aft, and near misses by other bombs sprayed her with fragments that killed a surgeon, a nurse, and 12 other people. Another member of her medical staff died of wounds the next day. The Dutch Government sent a note of protest of the bombing to Japan via the Swedish Embassy.
In the Battle of the Java Sea on February 27, Japanese aircraft sank several Allied naval ships. At 01:00 hrs on February 28, the Australian cruiser signalled that the Dutch cruisers and were disabled. At 06:00 hrs Op Ten Noort was sent to rescue survivors. However, a Japanese light cruiser, and the destroyers and intercepted and stopped her, and ordered her to Bawean Island. The Japanese forced her to take Allied prisoners of war to Japanese PoW camps. On March 4 she embarked 59 members of the crew of from the . Amatsukaze escorted Op Ten Noort to Banjarmasin in Kalimantan. There she embarked 970 PoWs, about 800 of whom were survivors from . Makassar in Sulawesi on March 5. For the next eight months, Op Ten Noort provided hospital facilities for PoW camps in the area.