The islang of Coron in the Philippines is one of the world’s most famous scuba-diving sites due to the well-preserved World War II Japanese shipwreck under the sea. On 24 September 1944, US forces detected 12 Japanese ships anchored in the bay. The Japanese moved the ships to Coron. They are thinking it would be too far away for an attack – to protect them from the air strikes that had sunk fleets in Manila. Their calculations were to prove marginally, yet fatally inaccurate. At sunrise, 24 US Helldiver bombers and 96 Hellcat fighters began the 547-kilometre (340-mile) round trip to Coron Bay.
The attack was devastating – the US forces severely crippled the entire fleet in just 15 minutes. Most sank hours later, while others were rendered helpless and eventually destroyed in a follow-up attack a few days later.
Today, the remains of the fleet comprise one of Southeast Asia’s most fascinating diving sites –the historical ship wrecks which is now host of underwater fauna that serves as a home for a lot of variety of fishes.
