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Shane_Currie

The Destroyer Fumitsuki is one of only a couple of 'military' vessels in the lagoon. She was built in 1925 and launched 16th February 1926.  She was capable of 37 knots but under fully loaded conditions could reach 33.5 knots.

The Fumitsuki was transferred to Chuuk from Rabaul in 1944 to allows repairs to be completed, since Rabaul was being continually bombed. At the time of the attack on Chuuk she was anchor close to the Hoyo Maru awaiting repairs.

She wasn't immediately attacked in the first wave and while at anchor she returned fire against the attacking planes. She was targeted around midday by bombers who scored a direct with a single bomb after the Fumitsuki tried evasive manoeuvres, stopping her dead in the water.

Other vessels attempted to tow her to shore but she was taking on too much water and listing. She dropped anchors and eventually sank.

Wreck Description

The Fumitsuki lies in about 38-40m of water with the deck at about 33m, and a small list to port. There is a smallish bow gun with boxes of ammunition to the front and rear. The anchor chains are extending out in front of the ship, however one is broken off.

One of the more impressive features is the torpedo launchers.  They hold 3 torpedos and are fired from a swivel mounted launcher. The visibility was quite poor here and there was a bit of a current running. This surprised me because the wreck is a long way off shore out in the lagoon north of Udot Island.

My UWATEC Aladdin Air Dive Profile for the Fumitsuki May 2nd 2003