Diving on the wrecks

[Von Tonner]

A very interesting site written by Alithea Nunes who has dived on some of the Japanese wrecks from WWII. in the Chuuk region. While we play this game for fun reading her descriptions of these wrecks reminds of how brutal war is.

Example extract:
Fujikawa Maru - November 8, 2005
Maximum Depth 90 feet
Total Bottom Time 95 minutes

I am overwhelmed by this dive and barely know where to start. The Fujikawa Maru is a large six hold freighter resting on even keel in 110'. She is 435' long and 58.5' wide. Her forward mast starts at 15' and guides you down to the forward hold, which we passed over to make our way to the bridge. We swam through the starboard shelter deck passageway and to our right we passed a head containing three urinals and a tiled Japanese bath with an upper and lower tub - it was beautiful. We then made our way down a set of stairs to the engine room on our left where we spent some time exploring its size in awe. We then swam through some surrounding rooms passing bits of machinery, bottles and lanterns. Then swam though hold 3, which contained a pile of broken (or perhaps exploded) barrels. I have no idea what would have been in these. We also saw a pile of tiny clear bottles which appeared to have some sort of white powder in them. These seem to be a great mystery as even our dive guide Bettewen doesn't know what they are. We then made our way to hold 2 where several fighter aircraft are broken up inside. The odd assortment of cockpits, fuselage parts, wings, tail assemblies and propeller blades make up various types of Japanese aircraft, but the one most noted is the Mitsubishi A6M Risen, otherwise known as the Zero Fighter. There are many aircraft in the hold so identifying the others is near impossible. As we exited hold 2, I noticed a torpedo lying on the portside catwalk; I am unsure if this is still live but the thought was enough to make me stay at arm's length. Next was hold 1 containing several drums, spare propellers blades, aircraft wings, gas masks, heavy machine guns, shoes, tires, ammunition shells, porcelain insulators and more fuselage parts. It was clearer in here then hold 2; Captain Lance believes an accidental dropping of a bomb intended for fishing has disturbed the tanks carrying torpedo propellant and really mucked up the viz. The other holds had been like entering the holds on the GB Church on a bad day. The machine guns had a huge impact on me - as is my nature, I wondered how many people these guns had killed and if the young Japanese boys who probably operated them were also killed... War!!!

http://www.benthic.ca/report.cfm?report=66

[Torplexed]

Interesting read.:hmm:

Chuuk in World War 2 was better known as Truk. The lagoon there being the major Central Pacific base of the Imperial Japanese Navy

[AVGWarhawk]

They have this on the Discovery Channel. Truk is the main place they dive on these ships that were sunk there. In the holds you can see the machines of war encrusted with sealife. Sometimes they come upon a skull. Check you local listings for the program.

[M. Sarsfield]

My dad dove on the Truk wrecks during one of his Viet Nam tours in the Navy. He was impressed with how clear the water was and how many ships were sitting on the bottom.

[momo55]

Don't know what to think of this ...real or .....

[M. Sarsfield]

Supposedly the Batfish has a a ghost on it, too, but I haven't experienced anything.

[-Pv-]

I also have a workmate who has pics from diving on Truk. I might be able to add to his with a link.
-Pv-

[Stealth Hunter]

[Takao]

Here is a link to Truk Lagoon's webpage at www.pacificwrecks.com

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/truk_lagoon.html

[M. Sarsfield]

Those look like mummified fingers below the skull.

[dean_acheson]

or maybe, and more likely, shells.

[Deerdiver]

Hope to be diving Truk in 2010. A big expense as it's in the middle of nowhere but the wait should be worthwhile. Dived the Thistlegorm in the Red Sea last January. It was awesome. Vehicles, motorcycles, aircraft parts and two steam locomotives, plus some of the largest (ammunition) shells I have ever seen, minimum 15" diameter. Divers rub the base plates of the shells so that they shine. Brilliant!

[TheSatyr]

Supposedly the Queen Mary has it's own share of Ghosts. After a Parapsychologist(Or whatever you call em) spent a night down in the lower part of the QM where the public is not allowed to go,the guy said he would never do it again. So much weird crap supposedly happened down there between 2-4am that it scared even him.

Voices,yelling,screaming,even the sound of water rushing into the hull and bulkheads closing(The QM accidentally rammed and sunk a light cruiser that was ecorting her during WW2) and I guess he even saw some "ghosts" or whatever down there. Course there was no water or closed bulkheads,but that's what he claimed to hear.