On March 1-2, 2002 Bill and a few friends dived the USS Houston wreck in memory of the 60th anniversary of its sinking in the Sunda Straits between Java and Sumatra. The USS Houston was a US warship sunk early in WWII off the coast of Java Indonesia in the Battle of the Java Sea. This memorial dive trip was organized by David Faltot (you can read David's write-up of this trip here --> www.asiaticfleet.com/faltotca30.htm) . Several American flags were taken down to the wreck and attached to the superstructure in remembrance of those which vanished in the battle. You can read further history about the USS Houston and its final battle at www.usshouston.org, www.spruso.com/1houston.htm and the Brighton Brach 007 website .
USS Houston 60th anniversary memorial dive trip (23 megabytes approx. 20 minutes) - Attached is a short film I put together of our dives over this weekend. Note that because of the silt the visibility in the water isn't very good. As a result it was difficult to get good wide angle shots of the wreck that are easily recognizable.
If there are any divers viewing this page that are interested in diving this wreck the midship coordinates are 5' 54.113S 106' 8.683E. From memory (looking in my log book I forgot to write it down) the ship is lying on its starboard side facing in a easterly direction. The bow mudline is at approximately 120-130 feet and the port side of the ship is at approximately 50 feet. Visibility is generally poor because of silt and the currents are generally very strong (remember that this wreck sits in the Sunda Straits and when there is a tide swing you have large volumes of water going between the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean in the narrow Sunda Strait which causes strong currents). Diving this wreck should only be attempted by experienced divers and preferably with a good, local dive guide.
Below are a few photos from this trip. |
