Posted under Wrecks
A couple weeks ago, 7 divers from DJL Expo used sonar to find a wreck marker left by USS Bergal, 200 miles north of Koh Tao. The target for this mission was an unnamed Japanese oil tanker, around 800 tonnes. The original war report said that on 17th July 1945, the tanker was moored way north of Chumphon, sheltered in a shallow bay. The captain attempted to disguise the tankers sillhouete against the backdrop of the mainland. But it was discovered by the US Baleo class submarine USS Bumper (SS 333) and sunk.
The wreck lies in very shallow water - max 14 metres! The explosive damage is enormous - the whole wreck is twisted and mangled. Wave action and O2 content at shallow depth has also been unkind to the wreck, but we still got a fascinating dive.
The bow still stands upright, with a large winching system located a little further back. A portion of the superstructure is still standing (see photo) and we saw some of the walkways still intact. I measured the beam to be about 10 metres, total length about 45 metres. JP reported finding a large section of the hull seperated from the main section. The steel hull is rotting, with many holes that you can now peer inside.