Shinkoku Maru
Modern 1939 oil tanker (10,020 t) converted to a fleet oiler, a veteran of Pearl Harbor and Ceylon, hit repeatedly during the Hailstone raids and sunk on 18 Feb 1944 with 86 dead. Upright and densely covered in soft corals, sponges and hydroids, she is often called the most colourful wreck in the lagoon: bridge at about 10 m, stern near 38 m, a medical bay with an operating room, engine telegraphs, big deck guns fore and aft and an excellent engine room. A top night dive.
Facts
- Region: Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon – Micronesia
- Area: Western lagoon & Weno
- Depth: 10–38 m
- Level: intermediate
- Current: low
- Type: wreck
- Coordinates: 7.403611, 151.768055
- Highlights: soft coral, hydroids, sponges, grey reef sharks, whitetip reef shark, engine room, night diving
- 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: Great night dive and engine-room penetration with a guide. Wrecks are war graves – look, photograph, take nothing. Some cargo (shells, mines, bombs) is unstable: do not touch it.