Truk (Chuuk) Lagoon 2025

[Bullshark]

Hoyo Maru

The Ghost Wreck

TK 8.6k ton. 475' long.

https://pacificwrecks.com/ship/maru/hoyo.html

Lance of the Thorfinn has been in the dive business here a long time and gets all kinds of customers. He tells about a few US SBD pilots that at age 72 came back to dive the ship they sank. They say the ship's Cpt was on the bridge shaking his fist at them. There where no guns and the ship was at anchor. They had just completed repairs from an earlier sub torp hit. After repairing a torp hit one year earlier.

Just like in game one torp hit and repair. This time the ship, like in game, had completed repairs needed one day pierside (re- provision) to join a TF and in comes the DBs.

So I met an Aussie diver Yesterday who said Lance told him the same story in '96. I said ya, but in my dive briefing he told me this is the Ghost Wreck. It is one of the last ships to have any bones left, some repatriations, theft nothing left. There is a bit of superstition on these Islands. The crew is all local. That's why this ship still has a skull in it nobody is messing with it. Besides he'll take your pictures with it at 96' under two floors of decking inside a bomb damaged hold!

Okay, and then Lance adds, "one of those SBD pilots didn't come up from one of those other ships. Enjoy your dive see you at Lunch..."

I luv Old timers to a point...

The story has been confirmed to me a number of times.

Note: The SBD diver that was lost was due to human error. He kept telling everyone he wanted to go in to a really deep part of the ship and the group would not agree on his plan. When they went into the ship the group went one way and he deliberately went a different way. He either got tangled or lost and ran out of air.


The story has been confirmed to me a number of times.

[Bullshark]

Chuuk Lagoon

During and after the war this Atoll was covered in oil from these ships. Japanese salvage operations after the war released a lot more. The salvage company's just abandoned their equip to rust in place.
In 2025 I would never know it, not a trace of oil. I saw a few liter slick once. Nature will come back, thankfully. Ships and coral are nurseries for small fish and Chuuk Atoll has that in abundance. It seems there is no oil left in the ships except for lubricating oil tanks that have not ruptured yet. They hold about 100 gallons so not a big deal and that seems to be the case with the most recent leak on the Rio DeJaneiro Maru in Sep 2025.

Divers here are of two types, recreational single tank divers, Tech divers with two tanks and virtually unlimited air.
The Tech divers go for two hours including deco (decompression) stops. They are the ones that penetrate the ships down to the bottom of the ship to the engine room. Sometimes they follow the stairs down 7 decks to the bottom of the ship.
Very rarely does anyone get lost but it does happen.

There are a lot of underwater video's on you tube of the various ships.

[Bullshark]

Japanese Sea Plane Base
Dublon Island - N. Shore

This was the first sea plane base they built. It had a large concrete ramp and docks next to it. If you look at Google Maps
"Roro" shows up as the main town and if you zoom (also use Satellite view) you can see the 3 docks on the island. All built by the Japs along with a sea wall, a connecting concrete road and eventually an air strip. It was big and could land
Betty's. This was the largest air strip during the war and now there is no trace.

I did a 2 hr walking tour here and I will try and show what I found. Sorry about cutting off the writting on the plaque.
If it were not for Guam historical society no one would know what happened here.

This is now a home for two families, complete with blast proof doors for windows.

[Bullshark]

Seaplane Base Ramp and Dock

The google search is Japanese SeaPlane Base, near the Nukan Protestant Chirch.

This is the dock, you can see 2 or three bomb craters. The first biggest crater is next to that abandoned storage tank, looks like 1k bomb crater. Next to my ride and then where I am standing is more damage from two smaller bomb hits.

Just to the left at the end of this dock is the seaplane ramp.

Big ramp to pull the 4 engine sea planes on shore. The steel in the water is a salvage barge abandoned by the Japs after they completed their work after the war.

[btd64]

Neat....GP

[Bullshark]

Thks. I am doing this in part to thank long time contributors/ devs, for their hard work and dedication. Guys like you, who are really into history, simulations and all the detail of this game.

An example is in game size 3 ports are in-accessible to subs, due to sub nets. Here they put electronic arrays in the channels to monitor ship traffic. The cables can still be found. They also had remotely detonated mines, as well as passive minefields. They lost a ship that went into a newly laid minefield. So the game loosely simulates these kind of defences.
In reality no sub would ever enter this Atoll. It is around 100' deep and coral heads everywhere.

The US had a number of subs (Tang) outside of the lagoon picking up pilots during Hailstone. Nice touch in game. But still after 8 yrs of playing I have never verified a single pilot rescue in game. Still I put subs next to targets as either side.
Those pilots that took an oil cooler hit only made it a few miles before crashing in the lagoon and certain capture.

[Bullshark]

SeaPlane Bunkers

50m east down the shore from this house is a concrete bunker. It's essentially a 100' tube, with two entrances protected by blast doors. Gun slits on the ocean side.
There were 3 of them, only two I have pictures of. I could not see inside, and #2 bunker has a power line going into it: someone's house.

[Bullshark]

SeaPlane Base Bunker #2

This was about 50 yds inland from Bunker 1. Exact same structure. Small embrasures for an MG, I just dont know how big the inside is but the walls are at least 2' thick. This is 4' above sea level so you cannot dig deep. In the first pic you can see the blast wall built outside the entrance.

There is a small sidewalk adjacent to these bunkers that must have served a purpose.

[Bullshark]

Dublon Island

You walk west, on the road with the ocean on the left. This road was built by the Japs before the war. I show this because it was well built, with concrete rain gutters on either side that drain under a small bridge in the center of the pic. You can see no vehicles can use this today. Don't trust Google Maps.

This area seems to be pretty important with the three docks they built an airstrip and a seawall to prevent erosion. A couple of the Maru that were sunk, had big water tanks in the hold to supply water to other islands, near and far. Somewhere they built a reservoir to supply their far flung bases with water. When there is a dry season, six months of no rain. The Japs thought of that pretty early.

One pic is a concrete water tank for the troops, and behind it a building converted into a home.

[Bullshark]

Dublon Island

The Igloo

The road ends and 50 yds further is this. Maybe 30' wide with 3' + walls. It is 5 yds away from the sea.

[Bullshark]

Igloo Inside

You can see how thick the walls are. The floor has been filled in over time, so its much deeper. Total of 4 embrasures facing the water.

[Bullshark]

Airplane Parts

Just offshore of the seaplane ramp on Weno (Blue Lagoon Resort) is this piece of machinery. The tide was low when I took this so I can't get it any clearer. It's about 12' in length and looks really heavy. I will see if I can research this a little.

Best Guess?

I think its a landing gear. With the big half moon circular gear on top (left), attached to what may be the part that goes down to a wheel, or attach to a further unit. The second further object does not help.

That is about all I have been able to explore here. There are caves, mostly filled in and probably a few more guns in the hills. I am sure on the hilltops there are AA guns still to be found. It's been really cool to see these sights even though people know very little about the history. The 70 or so wrecks in the lagoon will be here for a long time, because they are protected by the Atoll and rarely get any typhoons through here.

[RangerJoe]

I wonder if that is not actually a landing gear per se but part of the cradle that the float planes would be put onto when they were pulled onto land.

[BBfanboy]

The top picture looks very much like a locking mechanism. like for a ramp on a landing craft. I don't think a Mavis or Emily would need landing gear that heavy.

[Bullshark]

Google AI

Anyone want the original pictures PM me. I used Google AI cropping the picture including the outward curving base.
The search :is this from ww2 japanese aircraft landing gear?

Here was the answer:

It is highly likely that the object in the image is part of the wreckage of a World War II Japanese aircraft. While the exact component cannot be definitively confirmed as landing gear from the visual information alone, many such remnants exist in the shallow waters surrounding Guam and other Pacific islands, including complete aircraft wrecks.

iGuam Wrecks: The waters around Guam are well-known for their numerous WWII dive sites and relics, including both ships and aircraft.
Shallow Water Locations: Several Japanese warplanes crashed in shallow waters around the Mariana Islands and Palau, where parts can still be seen near the surface. These wrecks have often become artificial reefs, covered in coral and marine growth over decades.

Concretion and Rust: The heavily rusted, concreted appearance of the object in your photo is typical of metal artifacts that have been submerged in seawater for over 80 years.

This piece appears to be a genuine historical artifact from the conflict in the Pacific theater.

[Bullshark]

Google AI

is this from ww2 japanese landing craft?

It is difficult to confirm with certainty if the object is from a World War II Japanese landing craft, but it appears to be a heavily corroded metal component, possibly a gear housing or engine part, found in shallow water.

Identification Challenges: The object's severe corrosion and encrustation make precise identification difficult without further physical examination or historical context.
Likely Origin: Given the appearance, it is likely a remnant of a large engine or mechanical system from a vessel that sank or was abandoned in a coastal area, which could potentially be a WWII-era craft, as many such relics exist in former battle zones.
Visual Evidence: The visible features suggest a complex mechanical part with bolts and structural elements, consistent with marine engineering components.

[BBfanboy]

So the AI jury is still out on this one! I would have thought AI could find a sketch 'exploded' drawing of the parts of Japanese seaplanes and landing craft (barges). The cylinder at the bottom appears to be a rotating part while the hook attached to it looks like a heavier version of the locking mechanism on aircraft cargo doors. That's my reason for assessing it as a landing craft ramp lock.

[Bullshark]

TBD Saving Space for Machinery Answer. I have a couple of locals tapping into the coconut telegraph
to see if we can get more info.

[Tanaka]

Hey thanks for sharing all of this so cool to see the real life pictures of history fading into time!

[Bullshark]

Kensho Maru

https://www.evolutionunderwater.com/sin ... ensho-maru


I didn't bring a dive camera but a friend gave me some pictures of the Kensho how it looks today at 100'. The bow is about 90' and stern at 130'.
The first thing is you can see much more clearly, and 15' farther than the pictures appear. Cameras can't focus like our eyes. The ship's are fairly crusted over with every kind of hard and soft coral. It's all still in very strong condition and no one seems concerned about shifting or settling of the ship's. No signs of thinning plates due to rust.

1. This is the bridge with telegraph station. All the light coming in is from original openings, potholes, vents, tubing. All of the wood trim has completely deteriorated.