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| IJN Cargo  Jim Watts 1972  Shirley Cook 1975 |
Ship History Unidentified large Japanese ship sunk by air attack in Mawara Bay bordering the Kieta Peninsula north of Kieta Harbor and Kieta on eastern Bougainville. Shipwreck This ship is upright on the sea floor at a depth of 110'. Also known as the "Big Wreck". A armed with a 5" gun and had a cargo hold with at least two trucks inside. The bridge was damaged by a bomb hit and demolished. This shipwreck is stern-to-stern with Small Japanese Shipwreck in Mawara Bay. Jim Watts dove this wreck in 1972: "I learned to Scuba Dive on the wrecks in a [Mawara Bay] a spit from Kieta Harbour. The wrecks contained used artillery cases 5 inch diameter or so and old vehicles. Our dive instructor was removing propellers etc from ships. There is a large and a small ship lying stern to stern with the smallest closer to shore. We never used marks to find them as there was a floating plastic bottle tied to a string and connected to the wreck. Depth to keel was around 110 feet. But I remember getting a hell of a scare one day in low visibility going down the rope last when at around 40 feet. I saw on the edge of visibility this large roundish shape. I just knew it shouldn't be there. After trying to decide if I was safer going up or down I continued down, only to find I had been stalked by the crows nest. Shirley Cook dove this wreck in 1975–1977: "I remember there was a huge hold, with at least two trucks in it, and lots of junk. Have photos of some of the junk and the engine room etc. Ther gun casings retrieved from the Big Wreck were 6" bore. They were stacked in the hold underneath deep mud. We did not have much time to dive on the Big Wreck due to its depth. From memory only 20 minutes, then decompress at 15 feet. So not much time to do anything. The Bridge on the Big Wreck had a direct bomb hit and was very mangled. I have the remains of the compass from this wreck." References Thanks to Jim Watts and Shirley Cook for additional information Contribute
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