Rio de Janeiro Maru Wreck
Another of my favorites, is the 137m (450ft) Rio de Janeiro Maru wreck has an easily accessed large engine room with many knobs, gauges and pipes. There is also a hold referred to as the ‘bottle room’ with stacked boxes of beer bottles. The ship also has very large, photogenic, propellers. One needs several dives to fully explore this large, mostly shallow wreck.
Before WWII the Rio de Janeiro Maru was an eight-deck passenger luxury liner that carried people and cargo from Japan to many areas of the world including South America, South Africa, the USA. Built in 1940 and converted into a submarine tender in 1940 for the Japanese Navy she serviced six submarines. After Japan lost most of its submarines she was reclassified as a transport ship. Sunk by at least one bomb from an Essex aircraft she now rests on her starboard side at 40m (130ft).
The Rio de Janeiro Maru-class submarine tender was bombed and damaged in the Pacific Ocean east of Umon Island, Truk by United States Navy aircraft. She sank the next day.
Photographs of the Rio de Janeiro Maru Wreck:
Read also:
- Shipwrecks of Truk Lagoon, list with all known shipwrecks in Chuuk.
- Ship graveyard in Truk Lagoon, stunning pictures and informative article on the Ghost Fleet of Chuuk.
- Airplane wrecks in Truk Lagoon, next to dozens of Japanese vessels also Japanese airplane wrecks can be found in Chuuk Lagoon.
- Nippo Maru, (aka Nichiho Maru) was torpedoed and sunk in the Balabac Strait west of the Palawan Passage.
- San Fransico Maru, sunk on the 18th of February, 1944 taking 5 crewmen with her.
- Heian Maru, ocean liner converted into a submarine tender, sunk in February 1944.
- Kiyosumi Maru, auxiliary cruiser which was sunk in the Pacific Ocean off Fefan Island, Truk by United States Navy aircraft.
- Yamagiri Maru, sank by dive bombers from the Yorktown and Bunker Hill.
- Fujikawa Maru, she was sunk on February 18, 1944 by diver bombers.
- Fumitsuki Destroyer, one of only two made-for-war ships sunk in Chuuk.
- Shinkoku Maru, naval tanker that was sunk in February, 1944.
- Hoki Maru, a British/New Zealand cargo and passenger ship launched in 1921 and seized by the Japanese in 1942. Sunk.
Literature:
- Bailey, Dan E.,: WWII Wrecks of the Kwajalein and Truk Lagoons (Paperback). North Valley Diver Pubns.
- Bailey, Dan E.: World War II Wrecks of the Truk Lagoon (Hardcover). North Valley Diver Pubns.
- Lindemann, Klaus: Hailstorm Over Truk Lagoon: Operations Against Truk by Carrier Task Force 58, 17 and 18 February 1944, and the Shipwrecks of World War II (Hardcover). Wipf & Stock Pub.
- MacDonald, Rod: Dive Truk Lagoon: The Japanese WWII Pacific Shipwrecks (Hardcover). Whittles Publishing.
Visual media:
- Franko Maps Ltd: Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon Dive & Wreck Map & Operation Hailstone Franko Maps (Maps)
- Gerken, Mike: The Wrecks of Truk Lagoon – A Documentary Film (DVD). Evolution Underwater Imaging LLC.
