SS President Coolidge

The SS President Coolidge lies off Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu's Sanma province, near the town of Luganville. Built as a luxury ocean liner in the 1930s, it was converted into a troop transport during World War II and sank in 1942 after striking mines in the entrance to Segond Channel, with almost all aboard surviving. The wreck is enormous, over 200 metres long, and lies on its side sloping from shallower water down to a maximum depth of around 70 metres, making it one of the largest and most accessible wreck dives in the world. Divers can still see cargo holds with jeeps, guns, helmets and other wartime equipment, along with personal fittings from its passenger liner days. The deeper penetration dives are rated technical, and divers have reported dark corridors, deep interior passages, and tight spaces within the hull. Because of its size and depth range, the wreck is dived in stages, with the shallower sections open to less experienced divers and the deep interior reserved for technical dives.