Name Aratama Maru Location Talofofo Bay Weight 6,783 tons Draft 8.2 m Nearest city Talofofo | Status shipwreck Launched 1938 Draft 8.2 m Builder Japan | |
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Fate struck by torpedo March 26, 1944, hulk sank in Talofofo Bay, Guam, April 12, 1944 Displacement 6,783 t (6,676 long tons) Speed 15.2 kn (28.2 km/h; 17.5 mph) | ||
Aratama Maru was a merchant ship of the Empire of Japan. Launched in 1938, she was pressed into service as a military transport in World War II. She was struck by a torpedo fired from the USS Seahorse on March 12, 1944, while approaching Guam as part of a Japanese supply convoy. After drifting for some time, the abandoned hulk came to rest just inside the reef fringing Talofofo Bay on Guam's southeastern coast. The wreck was partially salvaged shortly afterward, and was further salvaged in the 1960s, leaving only the hull and some elements of its superstructure. It has also been the subject of souvenir diving, and its position and condition have been affected by several typhoons.
The shipwreck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.