Kwajalein, along with Rabaul & Truk, formed the 3 main Japanese fleet & air craft bases in the South Pacific. They fulfilled a dual role, one acting as offensive bases from which assaults could be launched either on Hawaii (the Pearl Harbor attack), Guam & Wake Island or South to New Guinea, Australia & NZ; the other forming part of the defensive perimeter which, it was hoped, would prevent allied forces from retaking the large areas that Japan had conquered in 1941.

Kwaj. is a large lagoon approx. 70 miles long & 20 miles wide.  The main fleet base was located on Kwaj. island & the major air base on Roi-Namur island located 44 miles nth of Kwaj.  The wrecks sunk during the war littering the harbor, mainly at the Kwaj. end & form the largest & best preserved collection of WWII wrecks apart from those at Truk Lagoon.  Many of these wrecks have been located & can be dived.  They are in excellent condition, probably better than the wrecks at Truk but do not carry as much in the way of soft corals.  On the other hand for those who like variety, the reef diving is much better & more accessible than on Truk.  Kwaj. is little known to the general tourist dive population because it has been an American missile test base since the War & access to the public has been forbidden.  Only in recent years has limited access been available & no major attempt has been made to set up a tourist operation. The wrecks in the Lagoon range from the German heavy cruiser, Prinz Eugene, 15,000 tons, 650ft in length, to small submarine chasers of approx. 200 tons & 120ft length.  There are many of the standard Japanese merchant ships of WWII ranging from 3,000 to 7,000 tons.  Kwaj. Atoll is located in the Southern Marshall Islands.  It was originally occupied by Spain, taken over by Germany in the late 19th cent. & taken by Japan during WWI. Japan retained occupation under a League of Nations Mandate & in the late 1930s started to develop the islands as a major fleet & air base.  The permanent Japanese forces included 24 gunboats & sub-chasers, 3 submarine squadrons each with their own depot ship & a light cruiser as flagship.  There were 300 - 400 aircraft, land based on Roi-Namur & a squadron of Mavis 4 engine flying boats bases at Ebeye.  These forces were supported by 26,000 troops & base personnel manning the extensive base installations.

The islands were heavily attacked by carrier bases forces in Feb. 1942 followed up by similar attacks late in 1943 culminating in an invasion in Feb 1944 when carrier planes & battleships practically destroyed the islands followed by a landing of some 30,000 US troops.  After the American forces occupied Kwajalein it was initially used as a base for further attacks on Japanese forces & then, after the war, converted to an American test missile base.  Kwaj. lagoon is not a standard tourist destination.  The only entry point is through the US Missile Base airstrip so you land & then are escorted off the base to the dock.  Here you meet dive master Steve Gavegan & take a short boat trip to Ebeye Is.  The Anrohasa Hotel is adequate, but the island itself is totally crowded & very unlike the tropical paradise one expects in these areas.  We were there in May 96 & it was 30 degrees centigrade in the water, calm with the lagoon & you could just drop into the water, drift down on the the wrecks & then proceed to inspect them, take your photographs & explore to your heart's content.  Most of the wrecks are located within 15 mins boat ride, at depths between 100 & 145 ft.

The main showpiece of the lagoon is one of the most famous ships of WWII.  The Prinz Eugene accompanied the Bismarck on its dash into the Atlantic in 1941, participated in the sinking of the British Battle Cruiser, Hood, & managed to escape when the Bismarck itself was trapped & sunk by British Naval Forces.  It is a long way from the scene of its actions but is still in a remarkable state of preservation & a credit to its builders.  Prinz Eugene is a heavy cruiser 650 ft long, 15,000 tons.  She survived the War in Europe, was captured by the British & brought out to take part in the Bikini Atom Bomb Tests of 1946.  After the tests, somehow she was brought down to Kwaj. & while being moved she started taking in water.   An attempt was made to beach her, but this was unsuccessful & she now rests on her side with the stern in about 30ft of water & the bow lying down the reef in 120 ft.  We made 5 dives on it & still didn't see everything.  It was heavily armed with eight 8inch guns in 4 turrets, twelve 4 inch AA guns, twelve 37mm AA guns & twelve 21 inch torpedo tubes.  The ship rolled 3 quarters on its side as it went down so the main turrets have slip off their mounts.  The smaller AA guns are still intact in the dual or quad mountings along the sides of the ship & the torpedoes are still in place in their racks.  Because it slopes down the side of the reef, it is possible to descend to the bow then work back up to the stern, an ideal dive profile.  You can swim right through from one side of the ship to the other just forward of the bridge at about the 90ft depth & also in front of the front gun turrets, swim under the bow at about 110 ft.  Of the other wrecks, the Asakaze Maru is one of the most interesting.  This was a ship of 6,500 tons, 424 ft long with a 57 ft beam.  It is sitting upright on the bottom & it still has its forward gun in place complete with ready use ammunition as it was being fought when it was sunk.  The kingpost still has its derricks & rigging intact & there is much material in the holds including cars which are badly corroded, water tanks, beer bottles, etc.  The galley contains the large cooking stove which appears to have been wood fired & there are cooking utensils, pans & so forth lying around.  The Ikuta Maru also provides interesting diving.  It lies on its side in about 150 ft of water. It is a relatively small ship of 3,000 tons, 300 ft long.  It had been converted to an armed merchant cruiser with three 5" guns but also carried cargo.  The bow gun was obviously in action as the ship was sunk & a pile of empty shell casings can be seen just below it on the sand.  Ready use ammunition is still in the racks around it.  The side guns are pointed forwards & are still in remarkably good condition.  It also carried a general cargo & the holds are loaded with pipes, coal, Saki bottles & various other goods.  This is one of the deeper wrecks but it is well worth at least 2 visits if you have the time.  Tateyama Maru, 4,000 ton, 340 ft long general cargo ship is also lying on its side in 135 ft of water.  There is a gun platform mounted on the stern but the gun is missing, presumably removed prior to sinking.  The rear hold contains a large number of artillery shells banded together & some of them have spilled out onto the floor of the lagoon.  The engine room can be entered quite easily.  There are large hatch openings to it & the skeletal remains of crew members can still be found.  The number one hold contains large metal tanks which were used to carry water.  Right up at the bow there is another empty gun platform.  An easy afternoon dive is located close to Roi island.  The remains of a Mavis Flying boat & a 120 ft inter-island transport lie in 100 ft at the foot of the reef slope.  We did a special one-off boat trip up to Roi-Namur to dive on their spectacular collection of aircraft wrecks.  Navy F4Fs, Corsairs & a C46 transport plane which again is in surprisingly good condition.  Usually the third dive each day was on the reefs.  The outside reefs, while populated by many pelagic & small tropical fish are affected by wave action in the upper sections.  The reefs drop 6,000ft to the main ocean bed & are most spectacular walls to swim along, looking down into the clear dark blue water with occasional glimpses of sharks & large pelagic fish far below.  There are also reef pinnacles within the lagoon rising within about 15ft of the surface, coming up from 150-200ft at the lagoon bottom. Densely covered in corals which tend to grow into one another in some areas giving a sort of patchwork quilt effect, they are populated with all the varieties of reef fish you can think of.  They gray & silver tipped reef sharks are in abundance & ranging up from 5-10ft in length.  They are quite curious, circling around looking at you.  There were big moral eels 10-12ft long, turtles & a very good array of tropical shells. Very few crinoids, gorgonians, nudibranchs, or the exotic soft corals.  The ecology is very different to Truk or on the Solomons.  The living conditions on the islands are basic. There is only one restaurant apart from the hotel restaurant & both have very limited menus. There are two general stores on the island carrying basic supplies.  The electricity supply is 110 volts so transformers & US conversion plugs are needed to operate battery charges for cameras or torches.  There is no dive shop & only a very limited range of hire equipment, not including computers.  Tanks are 70 cubic ft steel.  Ebeye & the Kwajalein lagoon are mosquito free & there is no need for preventive inoculations.  The local water supply is from a desalination plant. There are ample supplies of bottled water from the US available from either of the two general stores.  Dress is very casual but females must wear something that hides the thighs.