Wreck of HIJMS Irako (伊良湖)

 Second World War 1939-1945, scuba diving facility / area, navy, shipwreck

Laid down in May 1940 at the Kawasaki Kobe Shipyard as the first member of her class of refrigerated food transport vessels for the Imperial Japanese Navy, HIJMS Irako commissioned into service on December 5th, 1941 and was assigned to the Sasebo Naval District.

With the Second World War starting three days after her commissioning, the Irako and her crew immediately began their duty of bringing vital food and stores to Japanese bases across the rapidly expanding Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Mainly operating between Japan and Truk during her first three years of service, the Irako also operated with the IJN Southwest Area Fleet and supplied Japanese forces at Singapore several times before returning to her Pacific routing.

Heavily damaged off Truk by a torpedo from an American Submarine in January 1944, Irako's crew mounted a successful bid to save their ship from sinking, enabling the wounded vessel to return to Japan in February where she remained under extensive repair for five months before being able to return to service. Reassigned to the Southwest Area Fleet upon her completion of repairs, the Irako loaded provisions and munitions at Sasebo and put to sea on August 10th as part of convoy HI-71, bound for Singapore via Manila. Forced to make almost daily stops in protected harbors due to the threat posed by American Submarines, Irako and her convoy arrived at Manila in early September and dropped anchor to begin offloading her cargo onto lighters. Still anchored and awaiting the formation of a new convoy to Singapore on the morning of September 21st, Irako and the rest of the ships in Manila Bay came under massed attack from aircraft flying from US Aircraft Carriers operating with US Navy Task Force 38.

Surviving these attacks with little or no damage, the Irako and many of the other merchant ships in Manila Bay were ordered to depart for the relative safety of Coron Bay off Palawan Island under the cover of darkness. After loading a deckload of floatplanes, the Irako and her crew departed Manila on the 22nd of September, arriving at Coron Bay in the late evening of 23rd and dropping her anchor at the mouth of the bay between Tangat and Lusong Islands. Dawn on the 24th found Irako securely anchored among at least 12 other Japanese Navy auxiliaries, all awaiting orders on their next move out of the confined bay. The slow pace of the morning’s operations was shattered shortly before 0900hrs as lookouts around the bay began to hear then sight large numbers of enemy aircraft approaching from the west, the first wave of a total of 96 American Carrier aircraft which would strike Coron Bay that day. Anchored on the Westernmost flank of the assembled ships, Irako became the focal point for many of the first wave’s F6F Hellcat fighters SB2C dive-bombers and despite her onboard gunners efforts to repulse her attackers, the large ship was repeatedly strafed by fighters before taking several 500lb bombs in her superstructure and forward cargo hold.

Heavily damaged and set afire by the hits to her superstructure, Irako’s dazed crew began damage control efforts but were frustrated by strafing American aircraft, the intensity of the rapidly spreading fire and heavy flooding rushing through a large hole in the ship’s #2 cargo hold. Given a short respite when the first American wave began to withdraw, Irako’s crew were able to beach their ship but were unable to make significant headway against either the fires or flooding claiming their vessel by the time the second wave of enemy aircraft appeared overhead. With the ship down heavily by the bow and her bridge and superstructure a mass of flaming wreckage, the decision was made to abandon the ship to her fate. As ferocious airstrikes on Coron Bay continued around her for the rest of the day, HIJMS Irako slowly flooded, slid off the beach and sank at this location.

Now lying on an even keel in 141ft of water, the wreck of HIJMS Irako has become a premier deep-water dive site on Coron Bay, and is home to large colonies of soft corals, sponges and tunicates grow. Large schooling fish regularly frequent the wreck, which also play host to dozens of smaller forms of sea life.

www.combinedfleet.com/Irako_t.htm