| The Aikoku Maru was once a 150m long, 10,438 tonne freighter that was serving as a troop ship when the Americans took the Marshall Islands, its intended destination. The ship was diverted to Chuuk. There it was hit by the Americans and today nothing exists forward of the funnel except debris. The loss of life was immense. This is a deep wreck with the top of the stern at over 50m. We got to the wreck aft of the collapsed funnel, and went down to No.3 Hold. We then swam through the two large stern derricks to the stern gun, which still points towards the sky. With our time at close to 50m increasing we returned above the wreck to the anti-aircraft gun on the port side aft of the bridge also pointing skywards and apparently jammed while firing. From there it was a short distance to another memorial in the form of a seated figure, hands covering the face surrounded by fragments of skulls and long bones. |
| AIKOKU MARU |
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