Positively identifying the different wrecks in Surigao Strait.

Confirming the resting place of one of Japan’s greatest Naval Commanders and his Battleship

Vice - Admiral Nishimura, Shoji, hero of the Japanese Navy during WWII. As shells came down like rain all around him as his command proceeded up Surigao Strait, he relentlessly kept his force on its course toward oblivion. He lost his life along with hundreds of other Japanese sailors. Although he knew his command was doomed, he did his duty and sacrificed himself and his command in true Samurai tradition, thus keeping his honor.

Diving the deepest battleships ever explored by Technical Divers worldwide

The wreck of the HIJMS Yamashiro rests in the Strait of Surigao, Philippines, at a depth of 200m / 660 fsw. The wreck of the HIJMS Fuso lies nearby, also at great depth. John Bennett, former World Depth Record holder, planned to dive these wrecks. Unfortunately John lost his life in a tragic accident. The Yamashiro Project is a tribute to this outstanding diver.

Cedric Verdier is the first diver to ever explore this wreck, using a Mixed-Gas Closed-Circuit Rebreather to a maximum depth of 196m. Read a diary of the 1st successful expedition on the HIJMS Yamashiro

The HIJMS Yamashiro was the flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII. Built at the Yokosuka Naval Yard, she was first commissioned in 1917 and modernised in 1935.

• Displacement: 39,154 Tons
• Dimensions: 698’ x 100’5” x 31’9” - 213m x 30m x 10m
• Speed: 25 knots
• Crew: 1400

October 25th 1944 during the battle of Leyte, in the Philippines, the HIJMS Battleship Yamashiro was lost with her sistership the HIJMS Fuso.

Several of the US Battleships involved in the demise of the Yamashiro, like the Tennessee, were sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor and later re-floated.

The Battle of Surigao Strait, Leyte’ Southern Philippines, October 25th 1944, was the greatest surface action since 1916 at Jutland, and the last battle-line action in History.

The Controversy (by A.P Tully)

"Not only did the sister battleships YAMASHIRO and FUSO die under a deluge of shells and torpedoes, but their identities have been continually transposed by historians ever since.

Indeed, since both were members of BatDiv 2, both battleships shared most of their careers together, and by an interesting quirk, died on the same night within miles of each other, victims of the same enemy, during the Battle of Surigao Strait (October 24-25, 1944).

Thus stated in this bare form, it is obvious that such circumstances, particularly during a night battle, could easily produce confusion. Such indeed has been the case, aggravated by the fact that FUSO seems to have had no survivors post-war and YAMASHIRO only ten.

Predictably, these factors have led to confusion, even among the Japanese who were present during the action. As a result, down through the decades since World War II's end some authors have said that it was YAMASHIRO that fell to gunfire and FUSO to destroyer torpedoes, and others the opposite of this.

When Samuel Eliot Morison and the U.S. Naval War College published their distinguished histories of the naval conflict, they came down decisively in favor of the view that FUSO was torpedoed first, fell out of line and blew up at approximately 03:38, while flagship YAMASHIRO continued into the storm of gunfire and sank later, at 04:19."