15. Chuuk Lagoon’s Ghost Fleet
Est. Value Today: $44 billion* (Cost of Sunken Ships)
Year Disappeared: 1944
Discovered Year: N/A
World War II was fought in theaters around the world, and the South Pacific was one of the most brutal, nonstop conflict zones. For forty-eight hours in 1944, Allied bombers rained down destruction onto the South Pacific’s Caroline Islands during “Operation Hailstone.” Operation Hailstone took out the Japanese Imperial Fleet, doing tens of billions of dollars worth of damage.
Chuuk Lagoon’s Ghost Fleet @SeaDogSmithy/YouTube
Operation Hailstone sank the Japanese Naval ships below the surface of Chuuk Lagoon, turning the Lagoon’s seafloor into a ghost fleet. Divers who explore this site, which remains sunk, can bear firsthand witness to Operation Hailstone, which was called (rather inaccurately) “Japan’s Pearl Harbor” in the 1940s newspapers.
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