''Fujikawa Maru'' was a refrigerated cargo ship originally built in 1938 for the Toyo Kaiun Kisen Kaisha and was requisitioned by the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

for use as an auxiliary armed aircraft transport or ferry. She was rerated as an auxiliary transport 1 January, 1944. She was sunk in

Truk Lagoon Chuuk Lagoon, previously Truk Atoll, is an atoll in the central Pacific. It lies about northeast of New Guinea, and is part of Chuuk State within the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A protective reef, around, encloses a natural harbo ...

in 1944 during

Operation Hailstone Operation Hailstone ( ja, トラック島空襲, Torakku-tō Kūshū, lit=airstrike on Truk Island), 17–18 February 1944, was a massive United States Navy air and surface attack on Truk Lagoon conducted as part of the American offensive drive ...

and is now a leading

wreck diving Wreck diving is recreational diving where the wreckage of ships, aircraft and other artificial structures are explored. Although most wreck dive sites are at shipwrecks, there is an increasing trend to scuttle retired ships to create artificia ...

site for

scuba divers This is a list of underwater divers whose exploits have made them notable. Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activities – Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where t ...

History

''Fujikawa Maru'' was requisitioned in 1940 by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was based in Indo-China under the command of the 11th Fleet. She saw service in the

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under ...

as part of AiRon 7. On 12 September 1943 she was hit by a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

fired by the United States submarine , and returned to Japan for repairs. Subsequently on 5 December 1943 she was hit by

torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...

s from the aircraft carrier suffering minor damage. From thence she was taken to Truk Lagoon (now

Chuuk Lagoon Chuuk Lagoon, previously Truk Atoll, is an atoll in the central Pacific. It lies about northeast of New Guinea, and is part of Chuuk State within the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A protective reef, around, encloses a natural harbo ...

) to undergo repairs. On 17–18 February 1944 she was hit repeatedly by US bombers and torpedo bombers as part of

, before she finally sank on 18 February at approximately 7:15am.

Dive site

''Fujikawa Maru'' is regarded as the best

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...

site in Chuuk Lagoon by both of the principal authors who have undertaken comprehensive surveys of the lagoon, Dan E. Bailey and Klaus Lindemann. Amongst the more striking features on the wreck are at least nine disassembled Mitsubishi fighter aircraft in one of the forward holds. Eight of the aircraft are A6M Zeros and the ninth is an A5M Claude, the sole known survivor of the type. The vessel also boasts a bow gun, left over from the Sino-Japanese war and retrofitted. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' named it as one of the top 10 wreck dives in the world, and ''Aquaviews'' ranked it as the fourth best wreck dive in the world.

In media

* "Graveyard of the Atlantic...Graveyard of the Pacific," a 1991 episode of the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

television series '' Return to the Sea'', includes footage of a dive on the wreck of ''Fujikawa Maru''.

Footnotes

References

External links

Wrecks of Truk Lagoon – The ''Fujikawa Maru''''Return to the Sea'' Episode 105 "Graveyard of the Atlantic...Graveyard of the Pacific" at OceanArchives
(

Fair use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...

policy for video a
OceanArchives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fujikawa Maru Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Maritime incidents in February 1944 1938 ships Ships sunk by US aircraft Wreck diving sites Shipwrecks of Truk Lagoon