IJN Oite is one of only three purpose built military ships sunk in Truk Lagoon
This short article above the IJN Oite wreck provides a few basic details about this Japanese World War II ship. She is one of the many Truk Lagoon wrecks for scuba divers to enjoy in Chuuk Lagoon (formerly Truk L:agoon). But she is one of only three purpose built military ships that were sunk during Operation Hailstone.
Scuba dive the Kamikaze Class Destroyer Oite wreck: The IJN Oite wreck is a Japanese Kamikaze Type Destroyer. She sits at a depth of 50-62 metres (170-205 feet) in Truk Lagoon. A technical diver’s wreck that’s not covered in too much coral life. Very popular with World War II enthusiasts.
Truk Lagoon is the name these Pacific lagoons and islands were known as in 1944 when they were in Japanese occupation. However, the name of Truk Lagoon was changed in 1990 to Chuuk Lagoon.
Scuba divers seem to use these two names synonymously, the correct name is Chuuk Lagoon. These famous wrecks are dived by scuba divers from across the world.
The best way to dive Truk Lagoon is by a scuba diving liveaboard. You can check the latest and best deals on Truk Lagoon liveaboards using the following window:
Truk Lagoon dive liveaboards table
This list of Truk Lagoon liveaboards is in descending customer rating order, followed by Scuba Diving Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating, see below), so the liveaboards with the highest customer rating and the best SDE lux rating will be at the top of the list. If you want to change the list order, use the “Sort by” dropdown below.
The Scuba Diving Earth Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating) is explained on each liveaboard review when you click the “Discover Liveaboard” link, and is my own Liveaboard Luxury Rating I’ve assigned to all liveaboards. Choosing between liveaboards is helped by customer scores, and if you get stuck choosing between two or three liveaboards, where each one has a high customer score out of 10, you can use the SDE Luxury Rating to help narrow down your choice.
Think about it like using Booking.com when searching for the best hotel. Booking.com also use a customer score where each customer rates hotels out of 10. This is similar to the liveaboard customer rating, which is also rated out of 10. But let’s say you only like to stay in hotels rated 8 and above on Booking.com, but you also want the hotel to have WIFI or parking, or to have a swimming pool etc. The features each hotel has is usually secondary to the score out of 10.
Details of Oite wreck
The Oite wreck wreck was a Kamikaze Class Destroyer. She was sunk on 18th February 1944, having survived the first day of Operation Hailstone.
The Oite wreck highlights how Truk Lagoon is a graveyard. There were only a few survivors when she sunk from the nearly 700 crew on board at the time she went down. In fact this is one of the few wrecks that still harbours human remains of Japanese Navy crew (see below). This includes skulls and skeleton bones.
The Oite Destroyer was sunk by Avenger Torpedo bombers.
She was broken in two when a torpedo hit the aft of the bridge.
The Oite Destroyer was 100 metres (327 feet) long.
She was a 1,523 ton ship.
Built in 1924 by the Uraga Dock Co., Ltd of Tokyo, Japan.
In fact the reason why she is where she lies today is because she was on her way to Japan.
Still broken in two with the forward and medium section upside down on the sea bed.
She is at a depth of 50-62 metres (170-205 feet).
She had four Kampon boilers, which could drive her to 37 knots.
You see from the Truk Lagoon wreck map that Oite is away from the main cluster of wrecks. She lies near to the North Pass. From the map on how to get to Truk Lagoon, you see that Tokyo and Japan are north west of Truk Lagoon.
Comments on Oite ship wreck
The Oite wreck is great for divers you who like to see guns on wrecks. The above image is of the 4.7 inch guns on the deck. This is also shown in the video below.
In addition to this gun there were two 7.7mm guns, 2 pairs of 21-inch torpedo tubes, 4 depth charge throwers (see video below), and 18 depth charges on board.
Where she lies the waters are particularly clear with good visibility. You’ll see this from the first image on this article and the video below.
There’s’ not much coral growth on this wreck compared to the other Truk Lagoon wrecks.
Human remains on Oite wreck
IJN Oite wreck is one of the few wrecks where you will find the remains of humans. The above image is a shrine to the Japanese naval crew who lost their lives when this ship went down.
Diving the Oite Destroyer in Truk Lagoon Oite Destroyer Dive. PRO Dive PNG Truk Expedition 2018. On 16 February 1944 Oite was escorting the damaged cruiser Agano to Japan when Agano was torpedoed and sunk by the US Navy submarine USS Skate. Oite rescued 523 of Agano’s crew and turned back towards Truk. Just as Oite was entering Truk lagoon on 18 February, the Japanese base was struck by United States Navy aircraft in Operation Hailstone. Oite was torpedoed, broke in half and sank almost immediately with loss of 172 crew and 523 crew of Agano.
I hope you enjoyed this article about Oite wreck Truk Lagoon
I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkeling, in the comments below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof Gopro’s!
If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkeling or scuba diving (or specifically about Oite wreck Truk Lagoon), please comment below with your questions.
There will also be many more articles about scuba diving (and snorkeling) for you to read and learn about these fabulous sports.
Have fun and be safe!
Scuba dive The Kamikaze Class Destroyer Oite Wreck (Top Truk Lagoon Wrecks)
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Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been a scuba diver since diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1989. After his first dive he trained as a BSAC diver in the UK. He attained his Diver Leader certification with BSAC. He then went on to become a scuba diving instructor, teaching others how to dive and was voted as Diving Officer and Treasurer for the Saffron Walden BSAC club too. Russell has dived all over the world, including the UK, on liveaboards in the Red Sea, the Caribbean, South Africa and the USA. Russell is experienced in all dive types, including drift diving, deep dives that involved decompression stops and recreational dives too.
