Toa Maru

*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

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.

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]

External links

"War Wrecks of the Coral Seas". PBS. Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2017.

Footnotes

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