The Coolidge Ltd

The Coolidge Ltd is an advanced dive designation for a specific section or depth zone of the SS President Coolidge — the world-famous World War II troop transport wreck on Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu that sank in October 1942 after striking American defensive mines in Luganville Harbour. At the maximum depth of 60 meters, this dive sits firmly in technical diving territory, requiring decompression dive planning, technical certification, and experience with the physiological and gas management challenges of deep diving. The SS President Coolidge was a 199-meter luxury liner converted for military troop transport during the Second World War, and its sinking — which killed only two of the approximately 5,000 troops aboard due to the captain's skillful grounding maneuver — created a wreck of extraordinary historical and physical scale. The deeper sections of the Coolidge, accessible on this limited technical dive designation, reveal the engine room, propulsion systems, and lower hold spaces of a major ocean liner — spaces of imposing industrial scale that contrast dramatically with the elegant first-class interiors accessible in the shallower bow sections. The combination of significant depth, penetration diving potential, and the irreplaceable historical context of a WWII-era vessel makes this dive an elite experience for technically qualified and properly equipped divers. The Coolidge's extraordinary preservation — artifacts still in place, structural integrity maintained — and the quality of Luganville's technical dive operators make Espiritu Santo the definitive SS President Coolidge diving destination, drawing wreck diving specialists from around the world specifically for the deeper sections of this legendary vessel.