Aikoku Maru
Armed merchant cruiser and former luxury liner (10,437 t) hit during the morning of 17 Feb 1944: a torpedo detonated the ordnance in No. 1 hold, which nearly sheared off the fore ship, and she sank within minutes with very heavy loss of life. Today the bow is a field of wreckage, the stern gun at about 50 m is one of the largest in the lagoon, and there is a memorial near the funnel. About 400 sets of remains were recovered by Japanese teams in 1980, but this is a war grave and still a deep, technical site.
Facts
- Region: Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon – Micronesia
- Area: Fourth Fleet anchorage (east of Dublon)
- Depth: 40–64 m
- Level: advanced
- Current: low
- Type: wreck
- Coordinates: 7.372698, 151.91745
- Highlights: stern gun, barracuda, dogtooth tuna, jacks, whitetip reef shark, hawksbill turtle, engine room
- Permit: A Chuuk State dive permit is required for every dive on the wartime wrecks (Chuuk Lagoon State Monument): US$50, valid one year, as listed by Odyssey Adventures, SS Thorfinn and the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop rate sheet (the older state-code text says US$30, so confirm when booking). Under the state code the permit is sold by the licensed dive shops/operators, who collect the fee for the state, and divers must go with a certified guide from a licensed shop. All Japanese ships and aircraft sunk before 31 Dec 1945 are protected monuments and war graves: taking or damaging anything is illegal (fine up to US$1,000 and/or six months in prison under the state code).
- Issuer / contact: Chuuk Visitors Bureau (CVB)
- Phone: +691 330-4133
- Email: executivedirector@visitchuuk.com
- Website: https://visitchuuk.com/contact-information
- CVB is the Chuuk State tourism office and is listed here as the official contact for visitor information; the permit itself is sold by the licensed dive operators (Chuuk State code Title 25 ch. 8, text at https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/mic79052.pdf). Operators (Thorfinn, Odyssey, Blue Lagoon) list US$50.
- Tips: Technical dive (engine room about 60 m): treat the memorial and the site with respect, no penetration without technical training. Wrecks are war graves – look, photograph, take nothing. Some cargo (shells, mines, bombs) is unstable: do not touch it.