1_T_Submariner
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I dove the Oriskany and thought it was great a huge artifical reef. Just cool to see that big of a ship underwater. The other wrecks that I have dove where mostly debris so the main attraction was the wildlife.
Why dive wrecks?
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Kevrumbo
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Some of the best mini-soft coral "reefs" I've ever seen that rival even Fiji . . .are in Truk Lagoon (e.g. the wreck of the Fujikawa Maru).
The two most historical diveable WWII battleship wrecks sunk in action are the HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse. Without any defensive air support, they were quickly overwhelmed by Japanese torpedo bombers, and along with the Pearl Harbor Raid, this action heralded the end of the Battleship Era as the primary weapons platform of naval warfare (the Aircraft Carrier now became the capital ship). Symbolically, these sinkings signified the end of the British SE Asian Empire, and the beginning of one of the darkest periods in WWII for the allies & free world (1942).
This is why you dive wrecks: for the history, tragedy, reverence and now the beauty of the Marine Life that adorns them. . .
The two most historical diveable WWII battleship wrecks sunk in action are the HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse. Without any defensive air support, they were quickly overwhelmed by Japanese torpedo bombers, and along with the Pearl Harbor Raid, this action heralded the end of the Battleship Era as the primary weapons platform of naval warfare (the Aircraft Carrier now became the capital ship). Symbolically, these sinkings signified the end of the British SE Asian Empire, and the beginning of one of the darkest periods in WWII for the allies & free world (1942).
This is why you dive wrecks: for the history, tragedy, reverence and now the beauty of the Marine Life that adorns them. . .
I love the derelicts. Intentially cleaned, sanitized and then sunk ships such as the Yukon don't hold my interest. I love the wonder of diving a wreck, not knowing how it got there. There is 19 miles of sand between Palos Verdes and Catalina. That's a lot of underwater desert. Fortunately, we have hundreds of oases to attract marine life. You won't find many metridiums, wolfeels or five foot lingcod at Catalina, yet they are not only common on our wrecks, but abundant as well. Most of the wrecks I dive are too small for charter boats to drop two dozen divers on, and so they are more pristine than the more popular, larger wrecks in San Diego.
nereas
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If it is a wooden ship that went down, such as the Spanish treasure galeons like the Atocha at Marquesas Key in the Florida Keys, then the gold will be scattered across the sea bed, and you would see it glinting in the overhead sun at noon-time, like the Mel Fisher group did. Their museum in Key West has exhibits that describe the various findings of gold and silver, and how they lay on the sea bed, and how they were discovered back in 1985.
If it is a steel ship that went down, such as the Andrea Doria, then there would be a vault or safe deep inside, such as the one the professional salvagers went after in the TV show on the Discovery Channel about this wreck and salvage operation of the 1950s.
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