The Schooner with a Secret Mission
The USS Lanikai is one of the most storied and intriguing shipwrecks in Philippine waters. A modest wooden-hulled schooner, her history is tied to a secret “suicide mission” ordered at the highest levels of the U.S. government just before the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific.
A Historical Mystery
Originally built as a German yacht (Hermes) and later used for the film The Hurricane, the Lanikai was commissioned into the U.S. Navy in December 1941.
According to historical records and the memoirs of her commander, Kemp Tolley, President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally ordered the Lanikai to be sent on a “defensive information patrol” off the coast of Vietnam. Many historians believe the true purpose was to act as a “decoy” to be attacked by Japanese forces, providing the U.S. with a casus belli (justification for war). However, the attack on Pearl Harbor happened before she reached her destination.
The Escape and Legacy
After the war began, the Lanikai performed a harrowing 82-day escape from the Philippines to Australia, dodging Japanese planes and warships. She eventually served in the Royal Australian Navy before returning to the Philippines after the war, where she eventually sank during a storm in Subic Bay in 1947.
In a Hollywood movie
The ship featured prominently in the 1937 John Ford classic ‘The Hurricane’. Watch the USS Lanikai in its ‘Hollywood days’ before it became a legend of the Pacific.
The dive
I scanned the wreck in January 2026
Depth: 34-36 m / 112-120 ft
