On the morning of September 24th, 1944 - 96 Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters and 24 Curtiss SB2C Helldiver bombers left the USS Lexington to undertake a surprise aerial attack which would ultimately leave the remnants of the Japanese naval support and supply flotilla at the bottom of Coron Bay. The only heavily armed "true" warship among the group of 12 supply vessels, the Akitsushima succumbed to a massive bombardment, including a direct hit from a torpedo, which split the ship nearly in half.

Nearly 80 years later, the Akitsushima wreck rests on its port side in 35M of water - the massive crane laying on the bottom, one of its guns still pointed to the sky. The Akitsushima was a seaplane tender, designed to fuel and maintain a variety of Imperial Navy seaborne aircraft, such as the Aichi E11A Laura 1937 reconnaissance flying boat or the Kawanishi H8K Emily 1941 Flying Boat. The menacing appearance of this vessel makes it one of the iconic wrecks of Coron Bay, and in its current state of preservation, it is an extraordinary structure to explore.

Ten years ago, during my last visit to Coron Bay, I had the opportunity to dive this spectacular WWII wreck. It had remained in my memory as one of the greatest historical dives I have ever completed. We entered through the enormous midship crack, and proceeded down a hallway - eerie beams of blue light penetrating through various port holes - illuminating all manner of metal fragments, cables, and hoses which lay scattered about. To dive this wreck again, prepared with 6,000 lumen wide-angle lights and a mounted GoPro Hero 10 - I felt confident I would be able to capture the experience of seeing this vessel at scale. To see and touch the stern gun laying on the bottom, having slid off the deck from its mount, barrels still aimed to the sky, was one of the most humbling feelings of my diving career.

Making our way through the stern of the vessel, down a corridor to the engine room, we were greeted by an endless array of valves, pipes, gears, and mechanical remnants that were simply overwhelming to witness. To swim through this wreck and realize that it was built by hand, over 80 years ago, was nothing short of astounding. A few glass gauges and ports remain in-tact, intertwined with cables and pipes still firmly in place, inspiring a chilling reminder that men once walked these lines to maintain the ship's function and purpose.

Many people ask, what does "Akitsushima" mean? The word "Akitsu" in Japanese means "Dragon Fly", and the word "Shima" means "Island". Combine the two, and effectively you have "Dragon Fly Island", which makes sense for a sea plane tender! This ship served as an "oasis" or "island" for repairing flying machines. Quite the symbolic name for an iconic WWII wreck.