Underwater graveyard of ships

At first glance, this lagoon looks like a tropical paradise, but it hides a big secret ... Under the thickness of the blue water is the largest ship graveyard in the world.

The Chuuk Islands are a group of small islands in the Caroline Islands archipelago in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. During the Second World War, a large naval military base of Japan was located on the islands. On February 17, 1944, the Americans launched Operation Hillston, which resulted in the sinking of about 60 Japanese ships.

(Total 20 photos)

1. We descend to the depths and meet the first echoes of World War II

2. Here is a sunken Japanese ship. There used to be a bathroom here.

3. At the bottom you can see porcelain dishes from the Japanese ship Fujikawa that was sunk during World War II.

4. During the Second World War, a large naval military base of Japan was located on the islands (it contained about 40 thousand soldiers and civilians), as well as an airfield. The island was strategically important for the empire: it operated a communications headquarters, from where radio commands were sent that directed the operations of all Japanese naval forces in Micronesia.

5. In 1944, the ships of the 4th imperial fleet and the command of the 6th submarine fleet were in the Chuuk lagoon. On February 17, 1944, the Americans launched Operation Hillston, which resulted in the sinking of about 60 large and many small Japanese ships. Subsequently, control of Chuuk passed to the US Army. It was Japan's Pearl Harbor.

6. The American armada included destroyers, submarines, aircraft carriers and over 500 aircraft. In addition to Japanese ships, 275 Japanese aircraft were destroyed.

7. Translated from the local language, Chuuk is translated as “high mountains”. More than 60 warships and 275 Japanese aircraft ended up at the bottom of the lagoon, forming the largest ship graveyard in the world.

8. The US lost 25 aircraft during this operation. The wreckage of a sunken Japanese aircraft

9. Most of the wreckage of equipment remained intact for almost 25 years: people were simply afraid of sunken bombs. Now this place is very popular among divers, here you can find sunken ships with full holds, fighter jets, tanks and bulldozers.

10. Diver with the skull of a Japanese sailor who died during a military operation in the Chuuk lagoon

11. Shells

12. According to archaeological materials found on one of the islands of the group, the Chuuk Islands were inhabited about 2 thousand years ago. Initially, locals settled only on the coast and were engaged in pottery, but about 1,500 years ago this culture disappeared, and the islanders moved to the hinterland and mountainous slopes.

13. Car inside a sunken ship

14. Tank at the bottom of the lagoon

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16. Porcelain dishes are perfectly preserved, despite the decades spent under water:

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18. The holds of sunken ships are full of objects from the Second World War.

19. At the bottom of the lagoon

20. And on the surface of the Pacific Ocean, life continues ...