Recently, undersea volcanic and tectonic activities around the Ogasawara Islands in Japan have raised the island of Iwo Jima. This has exposed some of the partially sunken World War II ships.
Ghostly wrecks can be seen partially submerged on many occasions. They now lie on small volcanic islands’ black sandy beaches. Aerial footage taken by the Japanese–All-Nippon News Network shows remnants of ships after the battle. The ships’ hulk rests on a volcanic ash surface. Due to highly erratic seismic activity, the seabed on which the vessel lay started rising.
The island’s name, Iwo Jima, which means “sulfur island,” was home to the battle in February 1945 when more than 100,000 US soldiers faced 20,000 Japanese defenders on its volcanic terrain and Mt. Suribachi.
During the war, Imperial Japanese morals prohibited surrenders and firmly believed that getting captured was the worst dishonor they could bring to their name. Hence of the 20,000, only 216 Japanese soldiers were captured alive.
After the battle, US forces tried to establish a harbor on the island to launch a possible invasion into Japan. They sank several Japanese cargo ships to make a breakwater. The attempt failed, but the hulls of the vessels are still visible, some remnants of a desperate struggle to control the Pacific waters.
Setsuya Nagada from Volcano Research Promotion Centre stated:
The sea area is discolored and has spread to other sites. This indicates that the volcanic activities will still linger around.
A large eruption could occur on Iwo Jima.
Source: TheNationalNews
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