Tulamben · Indonesia · Wreck · Sand slope · Night
USAT Liberty Wreck
A 125 m cargo ship on a sand slope 30 m off the beach
Photo: Pb1791 · CC BY-SA 3.0
The USAT Liberty is a United States Army cargo ship, torpedoed off Lombok in 1942 and beached at Tulamben so her cargo could be salvaged. Tremors from the 1963 eruption of Mount Agung pushed the hulk off the sand and into the sea, and she now lies broken along a slope between 5 and 30 metres, coral growing over her hull and guns, about 30 metres out from a beach of large smooth stones.
Also known as USS Liberty, Liberty Wreck, USAT Liberty.
Where it is and how deep
8.2746° S, 115.5928° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Entry is a walk across the stones and a short surface swim: the wreck begins roughly 30 metres from shore, so most divers drop in over the shallows and follow the slope out until the stern appears at about 5 metres. She lies parallel to the beach with her deck facing away from land, which makes orientation simple — keep the hull on one shoulder and the open sand on the other.
From the stern the wreck runs 120 to 125 metres along the slope, dropping steadily to about 30 metres at the deep end. Coral has taken the structure over, growing even on the guns, and the broken sections leave wide gaps to look into rather than penetrate. Working the deep end first and drifting back up along the hull keeps the profile clean and leaves plenty of gas for the shallows.
The shallow half is where the dive usually ends. Schooling fish hang over the plates — great barracuda, surgeonfish and parrotfish — with Napoleon fish, peacock grouper and coral trout on the structure, lionfish in the shadows and spotted garden eels standing out of the sand alongside. Sunfish, whale sharks and black-tip reef sharks are all recorded here, but the reliable interest is the reef life growing on the ship itself.
The wreck
- Vessel
- USAT Liberty
- Type
- US Army cargo ship
- Length
- 125 m (410 ft)
- Built
- 1918
- Sunk
- 1963
- Cause
- Torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-66 in 1942; tremors from the 1963 Mount Agung eruption pushed her off the beach into the sea.
- Lies
- Parallel to shore on her side on a sand slope, deck facing seaward, stern shallowest at about 5 m and the deep end at 30 m
Liberty was launched on 19 June 1918 as a United States Army cargo ship. On 11 January 1942 she was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-66 off the nearby island of Lombok, and was beached on the eastern shore of Bali at Tulamben so that her cargo and fittings could be salvaged. The hulk sat on the shore for two decades. In 1963 the tremors associated with the eruption of Mount Agung caused her to slip off the beach and into the water, where she settled on the slope divers use today.
Marine life and season
- Mola mola
- Whale sharks
- Reef sharks
- Barracuda
- Napoleon wrasse
- Groupers
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good |
Season follows Tulamben: Diveable all year. April to July and October to November give the calmest, clearest water; December to March is the rainy season, with more run-off and fewer divers.
Know before you go
- Night dives on the Liberty are popular but not a first-time exercise: the wreck is broken and easy to lose orientation on in the dark, so dive it with someone who knows the layout.
- In high season up to 100 divers a day descend on the wreck, so the entry and the shallow sections get busy; a first-light dive avoids most of the traffic.
Photos from USAT Liberty Wreck
Pb1791 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Pb1791 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Dive videos
USAT Liberty Wreck | Freediving, Tulamben Bali | GoPro 48fps · Freediver HD on YouTube
Diving the USAT Liberty Wreck in Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia with Dive Concepts · Dive Concepts Bali on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is the USAT Liberty wreck?+
The stern, the highest point, is about 5 metres down, and the wreck runs along the sand slope to roughly 30 metres at its deepest, so the profile is yours to choose.
Do you need a boat to dive the Liberty?+
No. The wreck lies about 30 metres off the beach at Tulamben and is reached by walking in over the stones and swimming out; the diving here is shore-based.
What certification do I need for the Liberty?+
The site is dived by all certification levels because the profile can be kept shallow — Open Water covers the stern at 5 metres. Reaching the deepest part of the wreck at 30 metres calls for advanced depth training.
Sources
- USAT Liberty — Wikipedia
- Tulamben — Wikipedia
- Tulamben dive sites — Dive The World
Photo credits
- Silhouette of the Liberty wreck's cargo hold beams rising against sunlit blue water by Pb1791, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Submerged crane structure of the wreck resting on the sand slope in hazy blue water by Pb1791, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Ship rail profile heavily encrusted with soft coral and sponge growth by Pb1791, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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