Toa Maru

Toa Maru No 2 is a World War II Japanese transport ship sunk by the American submarine USS Searaven (SS-196)[1] off Gizo, Solomon Islands on 25 November 1943.

Toa Maru
History
Japan
Builder: Kawasaki Dockyard, Kobe
Launched: 1934
Fate: Sunk 25 November 1943
General characteristics
Type: Transport ship
Tonnage: 10,052 tons
Length: 502.3 ft (153.1 m)
Beam: 64.9 ft (19.8 m)
Draft: 37.1 ft (11.3 m)
Installed power: Kawasaki (MAN-type) diesel engine, 8,611 hp (6,421 kW)
Speed: 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph)
Capacity: 93,000 bbl (14,800 m3)
Armament: 1 × 4.7 in (120 mm) LA gun

Diving destination

The hull of the wreck is intact and lying on its starboard side. The ships masts are still attached to the hull; however, recently the superstructure has fallen into the sand. The deepest point of the wreck is by the stern, which rests in 130 feet (40 m) of water; however, the top of the wreck can be reached at a depth of 40 feet (12 m). The contents of the ship's six cargo holds include sake bottles, ammunition magazines, two Type 95 tanks, motor-cycle sidecar combinations, and a fuel tanker. However, since the sinking, the ship has been salvaged removing some of the cargo and the ship's propeller.[2]

In its 2010 travel guide, Diver magazine named the wreck as one of the top 20 wreck dives in the world.[3]

  • "War Wrecks of the Coral Seas".

Footnotes
  1. Hackett, Bob; Cundall, Peter (2013). "IJN Toa Maru". Combined Fleet.
  2. "Toa Maru No 2". Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site.
  3. "Top 20 wreck dives". Diver. 2010. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012.

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