Kyusyu Maru
The evening of the 14-15th October 1942 saw a major bombardment of Henderson Field by the navy cruisers Chokai and Kinugasa. While the bombardment was happening the Kyusyu, Azumasan and Sasako Marus slipped in un-noticed to off-load troops and supplies.
The following morning the transports were discovered and came under atcack for the rest of the day from aircraft from Henderson Airfeild and from Espiritu Santo (Vanuatu). The ships were driven ashore so that the most could be removed from their holds. The Kyusyu is known either as the Ranui wreck or Bonegi 3. Although we continue to try to alter the culture and call the wrecks by their christened names, old habits die hard.
The Kyusyu lies in 7-47 meters of water. Her superstructure was used as target practice by the USN, USMCAF and USAAF, then she was salvaged in the 60s and 70s and storms and earthquakes did the rest of the damage. Though the architecture of the ship is largely destroyed, it is still a great dive, with penetrations in the rear hold areas, and there are even some boxes of shells still visible that the salvers missed.