Wreck Bucket List?

[Jared0425]

I see your list doesn't include the IJN Kongo Battleship, which served in many naval actions including the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The Kongo was damaged by air attacks during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, then finally sunk by 2 torpedoes from submarine USS Sealion north of Formosa, or what is now Taiwan. The Kongo was the last battleship to have been sunk by a submarine in wartime and was the only Japanese battleship to have suffered such a fate.

The wreck of the Kongo has yet to be discovered and dived. I have two conflicting sets of rough coordinates which place the wreck about 55-65 km north of Taipei, in waters possible as shallow as 70m and possibly as deep as 110m. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get any Taiwanese tech divers interested in trying to take any steps toward finding the wreck, such as asking fishermen for net snag numbers, etc.

Wasnt the Kongo found in 600 feet of water in 2008 and attempted to dive on?

 

[Kevrumbo]

Wasnt the Kongo found in 600 feet of water in 2008 and attempted to dive on?

Well . . .add that to the wreck bucket list and give me Newt Suit:

Newtsuit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[mopardiver]

I really want to stand on the deck of the “Mighty O”

The best wrecks I’ve done so far are:

Spiegel

Vandenberg

Hydro Atlantic – “It was one of my deepest dives”

 

[Kevrumbo]

I really want to stand on the deck of the “Mighty O”

The best wrecks I’ve done so far are:

Spiegel

Vandenberg

Hydro Atlantic – “It was one of my deepest dives”

That's cool! I'd like to dive the USS Oriskany too someday so I could say I dove three out of the four dive-able Aircraft Carriers in the world. Spiegel & Vandenberg is on the wish list too when I get the chance to visit Florida (and it sure won't be wasting time on any cave diving either). . .

 

[Makhno]

Wasnt the Kongo found in 600 feet of water in 2008 and attempted to dive on?

I had not heard or read anything about that. Do you have any idea where I can find further information? Thanks

 

[Rich Keller]

I am not big into wreck diving but this seems like a good list to me. Most of the wrecks are shallow and have great visibility judging by the pics. I would much rather dive a shallower wreck for a longer period of time.

 

[Colliam7]

What a DISMAL article... Should have been entitled "A novice diver's guide to the only 10 wrecks I've ever seen". I'm guessing the author; (1) is an American and (2) took short vacations in Malta and the Red Sea whilst still holding only an OW card...

I agree that the article, particularly in the context of the title ('most incredible') is quite poor. I actually do not think the author was American - probably Asian, based on the grammar and syntax, either writing in English or submitting to the vagaries of translation. But, the article and some of the response comments do raise some interesting questions.

What constitutes an appealing wreck to dive? I think the answer varies according to an individual's personal interest. Andy's comment - that his bucket list would include only wrecks that have not been visited by divers before - is one perspective. I can easily see that.

Personally, I have interest in wrecks that have historical meaning - we have a lot of wrecks of the NC coast that were sunk during WWII. I am fascinated to dive them, and I feel like I am touching history when I do - human beings engaged in mortal combat on these vessels, and some / many died while doing so. I cannot help but be moved by that concept. (I am also fascinated and moved by hiking trails where other human beings walked thousands of years before - I feel I am somehow 'touching' those humans by putting my feet on the same trail that they walked.)

But, I am also fascinated to dive wrecks that attract a lot of marine life. The wreck is somewhat trivial in those cases - it is merely a magnet for marine life. There are some NC wrecks that have history, but I often neglect that history because of what I see on them (rays, sharks, etc)

Personally, I have been on the Spiegel Grove many times, and I find it to be a bit of a sterile wreck. What has been appealing to me is diving it before and after it was turned upright by storm action. I like diving the 'O' because the size of the screws is truly impressive. It is probably as close as I will ever get to that part of an aircraft carrier. Frankly, I find the Prince Albert to be boring. Even the Hilma Hooker offers more appeal, if only because of some of the rumor and story-telling that goes on about it.

There are plenty of incredible shipwrecks that I can never dive. The Titanic was mentioned, and I consider that to be near / at the top of the list of 'incredible'. The Arizona is on that list as well, because of the significance of the events that led to its sinking. The Edmund Fitzgerald is on that list.

My diving 'bucket list'? I have to include the Doria, irrespective of the current state of deterioration. It is an icon. (Actually, I would like to dive the Empress of Ireland even more.) I would add the wrecks in Truk / Chuuk. I would also add the Saratoga, simply because of the history. There are some interesting, and somewhat deeper wrecks in the water off the VA / NC coast that are grouped together as the 'Billy Mitchell fleet'. I would like to touch those.

But those are my preferences. To each his / her own. Diving a wreck can be meaningful for personal reasons, whether it is an artificial reef, a warship sunk in hostile action, or a non-military vessel that came to grief because of weather, incompetence, or bad luck.

 

[MalibuJerry]

I would add to the lists:

Andrea Doria
USS Bass
Jodrey
Empress of Ireland
Marine Electric
USS Burns

 

[Jared0425]

I had not heard or read anything about that. Do you have any idea where I can find further information? Thanks

A few months ago there was a blog that mentioned an attempted dive on the Kongo on google. Only one guy got to the wreck and said there was some superstructure. Ill try and find it again. I did quite a bit of research on the Japanese capital ships and came across the story.

NEW
I was mistaken about the Kongo, it was the Yamashiro that was being dove on. There is video of Russian divers with Bennett doing the wreck in 655ft of water

 

[waterpirate]

I would put truck laggon and the wrecks of the atol on the bucket list. A more short term list for me includes the: E.M. Clark, S-5, and the Billy Mitchel fleet if I do not age out before my skils get that far....
Eric

The hydro atlantic is 1 of my favorite dives on the east coast. The engine room and machinist space are a definate must see. Last year some cavers headed into the chain locker only to find that huge Grouper coming the other way down the passage. They got pretty rattled because it was not yielding to them or there scooters! lol