A Type 95 light tank on board the wreck of
San Francisco Maru. The latter was sunk 250ft down off Dublon island at Chuuk (Truk) during the American attempt to destroy the Combined Fleet there in Operation
HAILSTONE, 17 February 1944.
This was a photo feature (and magazine cover) for Sylvia A. Earle's article "Life Springs from Death in Truk Lagoon,"
National Geographic May 1976, pages 578-613. All photos by Al Giddings.
I hope Truk has not since been vandalized, a concern raised in the article even back then.
In February 1944 where was this tank being shipped to? presumably with others of its unit? Elements of 52nd Infantry Division were also en route to Truk around this time, when three of the freighters carrying them were sunk by US submarines and aircraft.
-- Alan