Dive site the Kogyo Maru is where you can find the famous bulldozer or tractor resting in one of its holds.
Name Dive Site: | Kogyo Maru |
Depth: | 33-34m (108-111ft) |
Visibility: | 3-15m (9-49ft) |
Inserted/Added by: | rocksteadydivecenter |
Rated: | Rated not yet |
Specifications: |
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The Kogyo Maru is an auxiliary cargo ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy basically loaded with construction materials. Rumors want to tell you that this vessel, lying on its starboard side, was also loaded with trucks, but they are unfortunately missing while diving the wreck.
In one of the cargo holds you can find the famous bulldozer left, which looks actually more than a tractor, but still in good shape, incl. a beautiful 6-cylinder Mitsubishi diesel-engine, this hold is also full of cement bags, looking now like funny stones. In the next cargo hold there are rolls of wired fences left, the other holds are pretty much empty. Empty is also the engine room and like before on Morazán Maru, there are 2 massive boilers left.
From the top side the daylight is coming through the salvage hole and producing an amazing atmosphere! The hull is nicely covered with hard and soft corals. The common lapu-lapu (grouper) in reasonable sizes, school of batfishes, massive lion-fishes hiding in bushes of black corals, barracudas, wrasses, nudibranch and occasionally turtles and rays makes the dive double interesting. The visibility is from 3-15m depending on conditions, usually calm, sometimes medium current.
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Name: funkydivers
IJN Kogyo Maru was a Japanese freighter carrying construction materials for building a runway to aid the Japanese war effort in the Pacific. Another survivor of US Task Force 38`s air attacks on Japanese shipping in Manila Bay and Harbor on 21 Sep 1944 she received sailing orders to transfer to Coron Bay and weighed anchor at 1730 the same day. She arrived in Coron Bay on 23 Sep 1540 and dropped anchor. The night was spent trying to camouflage her bridge and main deck. In the morning of 24 Sep at 0900 she was attacked by U.S. dive bombers. After she had taken several bomb hits the vessel sank killing 39 men.
Lying on her starboard side the Kogyo Maru is easily penetrated into all six holds and the engine room and bridge area. Kogyo Maru's second hold contains an impressive incline of hundreds of bags of cement. You can also see a small Bulldozer. Looking up the incline of cement sacks you'll see a Tractor and Air Compressor perched above it. The engines on these are completely intact and make sure you check out the Tractor's wheels.
Coming out of the hold you can swim up the foremast, now horizontal, and on your left side. At the top of the mast take a look at the crow's nest. Swimming back over the deck you can penetrate the bridge and engine room below it. Entering from the stern side for easier access you can swim through the cavernous engine room and look out through the bridge.
If air is low go up to the port side of the bridge and look at the soft corals growing there. If you have enough air; you can continue below deck level to the stern to take a look at the deck equipment for moving cargo. Pass around the stern and then go forward over the port side to return to the buoy line. On the way you will see the amazing hard and soft corals covering the side of the ship.
Name: neptunedivecenter
The Kogyo Maru was a Construction Supply Ship for the Imperial Japanese Navy. She now lies on her starboard side in 36 meters of seawater. In her holds you can find her supply of concrete now hardened in the shape of the bags it stored in. You can also see an old cement mixer, bulldozer, and roll of chain link fence. Fish life that can be seen here are razor (shrimp)fish, bat fish, snappers, groupers, lionfish, and sometimes crocodile fish.
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