USS Lanikai

Lanikai: an operator-named Subic wreck with unresolved history

Lanikai is a wreck dive listed by Subic operators, including Camayan Divers and Scubaholics. They describe scattered or broken remains rather than an intact ship. This guide retains the name used for the dive site while distinguishing that identification from the documented career of the historical vessel. The connection between the two is not independently established here.

What the operators describe

Scubaholics places the broken wreckage on a silty bottom near Cubi Point and reports challenging visibility. Camayan describes scattered but recognizable structure in Nabassan Bay and says the site was rediscovered in 2003. Those are operator reports, not a current survey or a confirmation that the location has a usable mooring today.

Camayan's depth table says 9–22 metres, while the prose on the same page describes wreckage at 36 metres. Scubaholics lists 34–36 metres. The difference within Camayan's page is unresolved. This guide does not choose the shallower table as a dive plan or average the figures into a new limit. Confirm the intended wreck, route and actual planned depth with the operator.

The historical vessel

The Naval History and Heritage Command describes Lanikai as a schooner-rigged, diesel-powered yacht built in California in 1914. The US Navy chartered it at Cavite in December 1941, with Lieutenant Kemp Tolley commanding. It served around Manila Bay, assisted the evacuation to Corregidor and escaped south through the islands as Japanese forces advanced.

The naval account places its arrival at Fremantle in March 1942 after an 82-day voyage. It later served the Royal Australian Navy. This is the career of the vessel in that historical record; recounting it does not prove that every remnant at the operator-listed Subic site belongs to that vessel.

Why the identification remains open

The Navy's ship history says Lanikai sank in a typhoon off Samar in Leyte Gulf after returning to the Philippines. A separate Navy archive finding aid describes material concerning a Lanikai wreck in Subic Bay. The finding aid is a catalog of records, not the underlying investigation, and those records have not been examined for this guide. The two references do not settle the discrepancy.

Location and visit planning

The published operator-map point is approximate, not a surveyed entry or navigation waypoint. No local-diver verification is recorded here. Confirm the intended site, present access and mooring arrangements before arranging a dive. The scattered-wreck description and unresolved depth figures make a current briefing especially important; historical interest is not evidence of present diving conditions.

Camayan classifies this site for advanced, deep and technical divers. That is the operator’s published classification, separate from its contradictory depth table; it does not establish which qualification another operator requires for a particular route.