Rod Macdonald's video: Diving the wreck of IJA TESHIO MARU - Palau

The 2,840 grt IJA cargo ship Teshio Maru attempted to leave the western lagoon of Palau in a large convoy early on 30 March 1944 in advance of an anticipated U.S. carrier strike against the great Japanese naval and air base. Before it could make good its escape through West Pass, the convoy was attacked by U.S. Task force 58 carrier dive bombers and torpedo bombers as it made its way north up the shipping channel that runs up the west side of the island of Babelthuap. One bomb went through the roof of the stern castle directly into the steering flat and crippled her steering gear. Another blew in the starboard shell plating of Hold No 1. Unnavigable, she drifted onto a nearby reef where she was attacked repeatedly for the next 2 days. After the war she slid off the reef - coming to rest on her starboard side at its foot in 24 metres of water. She is one of Palau's most loved shipwrecks.