Into the Blue - Wreck Diving in the Pacific (グアム洞窟潜水　東海丸） скачать в хорошем качестве

Into the Blue - Wreck Diving in the Pacific (グアム洞窟潜水　東海丸）

Dive to the Tokai Maru (WWII) and Cormoran (WWI) in Guam "This is reputedly the only dive site in the world where wrecks from both world wars share the same grave." -------------------------------------- Second Acts The Cormoran II And The Tokai Maru Mark Lewis 02.11.09, 6:00 PM ET Forbes.com The Cormoran II started life in 1909 as the Rjasan, a passenger-cargo freighter built in a German shipyard for delivery to Russia. When World War I broke out in August 1914, the Rjasan was flying the Russian flag in the North Pacific. She was quickly captured by a German cruiser and taken to the port of Tsingtao in North China. There, the Germans converted her into an auxiliary cruiser, using guns they salvaged from a disabled warship called the Cormoran. They renamed Rjasan the Cormoran II, and sent her back out to prey on Allied shipping in the Pacific. But the Cormoran II was soon too busy dodging Allied warships to do much raiding. Menaced by a Japanese battleship, running low on coal and food, she finally sought refuge in Guam's Apra Harbor in December 1914. Guam was a U.S. possession and America had not yet entered the war, so the Cormoran was interned according to neutrality rules. For more than two years, her crew led a comfortable life there as guests of the U.S. government. Then on April 7, 1917, news reached Guam that America had just declared war on Germany. Anticipating that his ship would now be seized, the Cormoran's captain moved to scuttle her. The Americans, noticing what he was up to, fired a warning shot across his bow. For the U.S., this was a historic moment--the first shot of World War I. But the Cormoran's captain ignored the warning and sent his ship plunging to the harbor bottom. There she would rest undisturbed for the next 26 years--until another world war erupted, and another ship sought refuge in Apra Harbor. This was the Tokai Maru. Like the Cormoran, the Tokai had originally been built as passenger-cargo freighter. But the Japanese vessel was larger and more luxuriously appointed. Completed in 1930, she was a familiar sight in American harbors before the war. Then in 1941 she was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Navy. A few months later, the Japanese raided Pearl Harbor, and America entered World War II. The Tokai Maru was kept busy as the Japanese extended their empire to include much of the Pacific--including Guam, which they captured from the Americans in December 1941. But by 1943, the Japanese were on the defensive. The Tokai Maru spent most of that year anchored in Apra Harbor, hiding out from the enemy submarines that were lurking nearby. Finally, the captain of the U.S.S. Snapper grew tired of waiting for his prey to emerge. On Aug. 27, 1943, the Snapper approached the harbor entrance and fired a spread of torpedoes that sent the Japanese freighter to the bottom. As it happens, the Tokai Maru had been moored right over the wreck of the Cormoran. Now the two ships lie side by side, about 120 feet below the surface. At one point, their hulls even touch. This is reputedly the only dive site in the world where wrecks from both world wars share the same grave.