hell ship
Definition
A vessel characterized by abysmal, inhumane living conditions, extreme cruelty by the crew, or a reputation for being a death trap.
A historical reference to the transport ships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army during WWII to carry Allied prisoners of war and civilian forced laborers under horrific, often fatal conditions.
Examples
Modern corporate culture sometimes feels less like a workplace and more like a hell ship, only with worse coffee and mandatory team-building exercises.
The cruise line's broken plumbing and complete lack of communication turned the vacation liner into a floating hell ship for every unfortunate passenger on board.
Historians continue to recover the tragic records of the Hōfuku Maru, serving as a grim reminder of how the term hell ship moved from nautical slang to a synonym for wartime atrocity.