War Wrecks of the Coral Seas (2003)

It's called "Iron Bottom Sound." Between 1941 and 1945, this swath of ocean off the South Pacific island of Guadalcanal saw some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, with American and Japanese forces clashing almost daily at times. For some, the name still conjures up memories of pain, bravery, and brushes with death.
From fighter planes and tanks, to cargo ships and destroyers, Iron Bottom Sound has become a underwater museum. Major wrecks include the American cruiser Quincy, the Australian heavy cruiser Canberra, the Japanese aircraft carrier Kinugasa, and the battleship Kirishima. On NATURE's WAR WRECKS OF THE CORAL SEAS viewers visit the Kasi Maru, a Japanese freighter that was strafed and sunk while unloading cargo on the island of Munda. She now sits in 50 feet of water, next to a barge that accompanied her to the bottom.
Not far away, in Rendova lagoon, sits an American Douglas Dauntless dive bomber, and nearby the wrecks of two American aircraft, the Hellcat and the Corsair with its distinctive bent, gull-shaped wings. Today, both planes sit quietly on the bottom, their powerful engines mute, their wings covered with sponges and coral.
The Solomon Islands and the waters that surround them constitute an enormous battlefield, where 60 years ago U.S. Navy and Marine forces began a monumental assault that eventually would drive Japanese forces northward, back toward their homeland. In addition to its enormous human toll, the fighting left countless ships and aircraft, including fuel and noxious cargo, on the beds of the formerly pristine shallow waters. Surprisingly, however, this intrusion into paradise did not repel wildlife from those waters. Instead, it attracted it. The detritus of human conflict turned into spectacular living reefs, upon which fantastic mini-ecosystems took shape.