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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the SS President Coolidge location page.
Overview
Luxury liner converted to troop ship that struck a US mine off Espiritu Santo in 1942. At 198 m long she is one of the largest accessible wreck dives in the world. Bow at 21 m, stern at 70 m — a wreck for every certification level.
Briefing note
Bow accessible to advanced divers; full stern requires tech certification.
What you'll see
3 species curated- year-roundLionfish
- year-roundSchooling barracuda
- year-roundMoray eel
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceLionfish
- Last confirmed
- May 2026
- Recent records
- 130 within 10 km
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
The wreck
Ship history- Underwater cultural heritage
Freighter · United States
SS President Coolidge
- Built
- 1931
- Sunk
- Oct 26, 1942
- Length
- 199 m
- Tonnage
- 21,936
- Diveable depth
- 21–70 m
- How she sank
- Sunk in wartime
Luxury liner converted to US troopship, sunk by US-laid mines in the Espiritu Santo channel — the captain ran her aground after striking, allowing nearly all 5,440 troops aboard to escape. Now a sprawling, technical-but-shore-accessible wreck.
Notable features
- The Lady — porcelain art panel
- swimming pool
- promenade deck
- officer cabins
- intact bow gun
Vessel histories sourced from the Naval History and Heritage Command (DANFS), NOAA ENC Direct, and editorial research. Bathymetry per GEBCO. See the methodology for limits.
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28–30 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Feb | 28–30 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Mar | 28–30 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Apr | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| May | 26–28 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Jun | 25–27 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Jul | 25–27 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Aug | 25–27 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Sep | 25–27 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Oct | 26–28 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Nov | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Dec | 28–30 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Gear for this site
Beyond the basic kit- Dive light — Deep penetration through cabins, ballroom, and engine room.
- Computer — Multi-level decompression dives standard on this wreck.
Next step
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