There are so many amazing wrecks to dive in Chuuk Lagoon it is really hard to pick one to start off with. But the Fujikawa Maru is probably a very good place. It's one of the iconic wrecks in the lagoon, voted one of the top 10 wrecks in the world in a survey by The Times and favorite of many divers. Probably one of the first anyone arriving will get to dive too as it is the ideal depth for a check dive.
Built in 1938 the Fujikawa Maru was a modern cargo/passenger vessel is 133m long and 18m wide, powered by a 6 cylinder marine diesel and single propeller it could maintain 16 knots. Chartered to Mitsui Busan for runs from Japan to North America and South America to India. The ship was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1940 and converted transport aircraft around the Pacific.
On the 17th of February 1944 after partly unloading her cargo the ship was hit by torpedos from
US planes from the carriers USS Bunker Hill and Monteray the ship caught fire and sank the next day.
The Fujikawa now sits upright in about 30m of water just south of Eten Island with the main deck about 18m
The hatches from the holds have rotted away so access to the cargo spaces is very safe and easy.
The forward holds still have a number of Zero fighters and one Claude that had not been offloaded when the ship was struck
For the time underwater they are amazingly still intact but now are becoming very fragile.
As one wreckless diver found out a few years ago when he broke off the tail of one of the planes while trying to sit on it.
Other holds still have airplane parts and oil drums in them.
The bow of the Fujikawa is now more reef than a wreck with abundant hard and soft corals.
But you can still make out the maneuvering telegraph that would have been used while anchoring or docking.
Also, the forward 4.7inch gun fitted by the IJN that is a relic from the Sino Japanese war as it is dated 1899.
Well, Hivers I hope you enjoyed that dive on the Fujikawa Maru in Chuuk Lagoon, it certainly brought back some happy memories of the first dive there for me.