Kikukawa Maru
Passenger-cargo ship (3,833 t) that caught fire at the Fourth Fleet anchorage on 7 Oct 1943 – before Hailstone – because of overloading; her fuel cargo exploded and sank both her and the salvage tug Ojima, killing five crew and 39 passengers. She lies at about 37 m with the front half on an underwater hill; oil drums and a compressor are in the forward hull and aircraft bodies, propellers, engines and wheels have spilled onto the seabed, with a truck in the debris. Rarely dived.
Facts
- Region: Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon – Micronesia
- Area: Fourth Fleet anchorage (east of Dublon)
- Depth: 37 m
- Level: advanced
- Current: low
- Type: wreck
- Coordinates: 7.372, 151.905 (approximate)
- Highlights: aircraft parts, propellers, truck, oil drums
- 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.
- Unverified: No published GPS: pin placed inside the Fourth Fleet anchorage (east of Dublon) where Pacific Wrecks says she sank; only the anchorage is sourced, the exact spot is not. Depth is Pacific Wrecks' 120 ft.
- Tips: Deep (about 37 m) and rarely dived; ask whether your operator visits it. Wrecks are war graves – look, photograph, take nothing. Some cargo (shells, mines, bombs) is unstable: do not touch it.