USAT Liberty Wreck – Tulamben
USAT Liberty Glo, was a United States Army Transport, built at the Hog Island emergency shipyard in Philadelphia during World War I.
History
On January 11th, 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II, the 6,211 ton vessel was on route from Australia to the Philippines, carrying a cargo of railway parts and rubber for the war effort. At approximately 19 km southwest of the Lombok Strait, the USAT Liberty Glo was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
A US destroyer called the USS Paul Jones and Dutch destroyer HNLMS Van Ghent, towed the damaged ship in the direction of Singaraja, a Dutch port on the north coast of Bali. However the USAT Liberty Glo was taking on so much water that she was beached on the East Coast Balinese village of Tulamben in an effort to save her cargo and fittings - she remained there for the next 21 years.
Sinking
In 1963 the tremors associated from the eruption of Mount Agung caused the doomed vessel to slip off the beach; she now lies on a sand slope in 30 to 100 feet (9 to 30 m) of water. Liberty Glo was one of 58 Hog Islanders that were casualties in World War II. She is often incorrectly referred to at the ‘USS Liberty’ but she was never one of the “Liberty’ series of ships, a similar concept of vessel built during the Second World War.
Diving
The wreck offers a rare combination in a dive site; easy conditions and great underwater life. She lies less than 40 meters offshore in relatively calm waters making her probably the safest large wreck dive in the world. She is ideal for Discover Scuba and Open Water Divers, with great richness and a vaste array of marine life including giant barracuda, giant groupers, blue spotted sting rays and bumphead parrot fish.
USAT Liberty also provides the perfect site for ‘specialities’ such as night diving, deep diving and wreck diving, offering different experiences on each dive. Underwater photographers also enjoy great value from this unique dive site with critters such as leafy scorpion fish, nudibranch and pygmy seahorse often sighted; USAT Liberty also photographs beautifully with many a photographer capturing haunting images of her, with wide angled lenses.
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