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 Picture is Courtesy of Chris Clark |
During and since the second World War, many ships did sink in the Gulf of Thailand, particularly in the South. Now lying in 50 to 75 metres of sea water, these wrecks offer the best wreck diving sites in Thailand. Completely or Virtually unexplored (the most dived ones have been dived only 30 times), there is still everything to discover. Bells & Telegraphs, Guns, Brass Portholes, are still on them and some of the coordinates have never been dived. |
| The boat has lovely cabins and living aboard her is relaxing and fun. It comes with an onboard trimix continuous flow blending system and partial pressure blending system so whatever mix you need, you've got it. Under the boat you'll find hang bars with a constant supply of oxygen being pumped to them so you can relax when you complete your decompression stops. All in all probably the best place in Thailand to Technical dive with some of the nicest people you will ever meet. Here are just a few of the wrecks. |
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The Torpedo Wreck is a 70 meter Japanese cargo boat sitting upright about 2 hours north from Koh Tao. This dive site provides ideal depths and situations for deep specialties and all levels of the DSAT tecrec program. Maximum depth 54 metres. |
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The Unicorn Wreck is a 60 meter Japanese cargo boat sitting upright about 12 km north from Koh Tao. The top of the bow is at 38 meters, lots of penetrations are available for highly skilled technical divers. The wreck is completely intact with resident monster groupers and big red snapper living inside. Schools of jacks and barracuda patrol the area directly above the wreck making for a comfortable ascent. Maximum depth 50 metres. |
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The United States of America W W 2 Balao class submarine USS Lagarto SS-371, has been discovered in the Gulf of Thailand by Jamie Macleod and Stewart Oehl of M.V.Trident , Koh Tao at a depth of 75 metres (225) feet. The USS Lagarto is believed to have been sunk during a daring convoy attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy minelayer HATSUTAKA, at 0010 on May 4 1945. The submarine is a restricted war grave and is being treated with the utmost respect which it deserves. She is currently being researched and documented by our team with the permission of the US Navy's Naval Historical Centre. The exact location of the Lagarto remains a closely guarded secret. |
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WW2 Japanese Passenger/Cargo vessel upright in 70m,top of the wreck is 57m, a large one, weighing about 4,500 ton. On the starboard side she has been torpedoed, lots of penetration. Perfect for Trimix training. |
 Courtesy of Chris Clark |
The Gulf of Siam was invaded by SubSoWesPac patrollers during this closing period of the war. Believed strewn with mines, the Gulf's interior had long been marked out-of-bounds for patrolling submarines. But in March 1945 the Gulf patrol was resumed by the British sub TRADEWIND. In April HARDHEAD had covered the approaches to Bangkok. Entering the Gulf in May, BAYA, LAGARTO, and HAMMERHEAD found targets. Teaming up with BAYA to attack a convoy, LAGARTO was lost in these waters. BAYA was frustrated by unexpectedly strong measures. But HAMMERHEAD sank a small tanker off the Malay coast on May 6, and in the same area downed TOTTORI MARU 5,973 ton passenger cargo man, on the 15th. Thereafter, traffic between Siam and Singapore was reduced to a trickle." Quoted from "UNITED STATES SUBMARINE OPERATIONS IN WORLD WAR II" by Theodore Roscoe 1949. The wreck lies on her starboard side in 58m. The top of the wreck is at 40 m, length is 150m, tonnage is 5-7000 tons. She has had some damage starboard aft. More research is needed but we suspect from Hammerhead's logged co-ordinates that this could well be the Tottori Maru, a 'hell ship' used as transport for Allied POW's. |
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This wreck is about 60 nautical miles from Koh Tao, an easy 6 hour run. She lies on her port side in 60 metres of clear water, the top of the wreck is at 48m. Length is about 80m, beam 14m, weight approximately 3000 tons. From the damage to the superstructure it looks like she has either had an explosion or has been bombarded from the air. This wreck is very well appointed, twin screws, lots of portholes, telegraphs and deck machinery. We suspect this was some sort of working vessel as opposed to the regular 'maru'. Information from machinery maker's plates tells us she was built in Japan in 1911. |
 Picture is Courtesy of Chris Clark On TecEvolution's Nikon D70s |
This wreck lies close to the No Name Maru. She is a 70m, 3000 ton Japanese oil tanker sitting upright in 60m. There is no apparent damage except for a split in the bow below the waterline. The superstructure has three levels and has yet to be explored. |
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The Gulf of Thailand was heavily patrolled by US submarines, in 1945 they sank dozens of 'marus' - japanese freighters and tankers carrying everything from supplies to POW's. Using the submarines' logs as a starting point each of our expeditions will include exploratory dives with the chance of diving virgin WW2 wrecks. |
| TecEvolution: Rebreathers and Technical Diving Specialists | ||
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| 22/23 Moo 4, Whitesands Trat 23170, Ko Chang, Thailand | ||
| tel:+66 87 926 4973 | cell:+66 87 926 4973 | eMail: info@tecevolution.com |
