Hijms Sakawa

The Sakawa was a Japanese light cruiser used as one of the target vessels in the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946, and it sank shortly after the Baker test. It now rests in the lagoon in a large protected marine park that also holds several other test-fleet wrecks, including the Nagato and the USS Saratoga. Diving at Bikini Atoll is only done through occasional liveaboard expeditions given its remoteness in the Marshall Islands, and the wrecks lie deep enough, and are large and often broken enough, that they are considered advanced and technical dives. Visibility in the lagoon is generally good, and the site is as much a piece of nuclear and naval history as it is a wreck dive.

Confirmed by our research team, reported by independent divers, or observed nearby via iNaturalist — each entry is labelled with its source.

• Smallmouth SquirrelfishSargocentron microstomaReported here · unconfirmed
• Indian Bullethead ParrotfishChlorurus sordidusReported here · unconfirmed
• Iridescent CardinalfishPristiapogon kallopterusReported here · unconfirmed
• Threespot WrasseHalichoeres trimaculatusReported here · unconfirmed
• Hawaiian Convict SurgeonfishAcanthurus triostegusReported here · unconfirmed
• Sevenstripe CardinalfishOstorhinchus novemfasciatusReported here · unconfirmed