This is actually not a victim of Operation Hailstone. She was lying at anchor, somehow caught fire and then exploded on October 7th 1943. About 50 to 250 (depending who you are asking) men, most trying to get the fire under control went with her plus some tugs and landing crafts. The wreck lies in…
This ship is a deep beautiful dive. And even after one dive, I have fallen under her spell. She is the first dive of the day since she lies quite deep. As we are traveling out to the site (8 min from the anchorage), I repeat what Captain Lance just told us about her. The…
What a story behind this wreck. So, she got damaged pretty bad on Dec 4th 1943 at Kawajalein Atoll. She had to be towed back to Chuuk by the Momokawa Maru and managed to arrive 4 days before the Hailstone attack. The engine was not working so there was not a lot of electricity which…
Today we dove the Heian Maru, she was built in 1930 by the Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and used to be a Passenger/Cargo Liner between Yokohama and Seattle. She was requisitioned by the Japanese government and assigned to the 6th Submarine fleet. Being first located in Kwajalein the 6th submarine fleet was assigned to Truk…
The Rio de Janeiro Maru was built in 1930 as an eight deck ocean liner by O.S.K. Line (Osaka Shosen Kabushiki Kaisha) and between the World Wars she served as a ocean liner, doing four month turns around the globe. She was requisitioned for war in 1940 and served first as a submarine depot ship, and was later reassigned as a…
Ohhh I am still going to San Francisco and I forgot the flower again. Well that can happen. But I am really excited as we zip over the flat water of the Lagoon. Today we’ll dive the afterpart of the San Francisco Maru. After diving forward sections three times already I want to view more. Not that I have seen the…
This is one of the best and most popular dives in the Lagoon. She was built in 1919 as a medium-large sized freighter. Having loaded semi spherical land mines in the bow and ammunition in the stern, she was bombed in the only place that did not erupt her out of the water. A bomb…
A very special wreck for a lot of divers here. One of the books claims it is T H E wreck in Truk so of course we are very excited when we arrive on site. The sun is hiding behind a lot of clouds so there is not really a perceptible change in water colour…
Today we dove the Hoki Maru: She was one of the earliest Union Steamship’s vessels to have diesel propulsion and was built in 1921 in Scottland. She was running under the name of M/V Hauraki for New Zealand. The Japanese merchant raider Aikoku and Hokoku Maru spotted her in 1941 on the way to Colombo…
There are two names to the wreck since the kanji letters can be either read Shotan or Matsutan. She is more commonly referred to as Shotan Maru however. Another morning in paradise and another great dive. The sea is smooth and the 7 min boat ride to the dive site bliss. Just looking around at…