Warunya Thongrod
Pattaya scuba divers have a new shipwreck to explore after the
government sunk a small Royal Thai Navy landing craft off Koh Larn in
honor of HRH the Crown Prince’s 60th birthday.
Sakda Noppasit, secretary at the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment, and Bunchob Sutthimanaswong, director-general of Department
of Marine and Coastal Resources, presided over the Oct. 20 ceremony at
Bali Hai Pier to sink the HTMS Mataphon to become a new artificial reef
and attraction for divers.
Down she goes! HTMS Mataphon
begins its new mission as an underwater diving site near Koh Larn.
Sakda said the sinking will help restore the marine
ecosystem and be a place of knowledge for students, residents and
tourists.
Bunchob said he believed sinking a new ship would reduce the number of
divers on coral reefs, reducing damage to the delicate animals.
The Mataphon, built in the American state of Ohio in 1944, was used by
the U.S. Navy during World War II in the Lingayen Gulf landings in the
Philippines from Jan. 9-18, 1945. It was transferred to the Thai navy in
1950 and was in active use until 2008.
The ship is 35 meters long, 9.8 meters wide and has a draught of 1.2
meters. It originally carried a complement of 14 and had a maximum speed
of 8 knots. During its life in Thailand, it mainly served as a ferry on
Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River.
The HTMS Mataphon is the latest shipwreck to be sunk intentionally in
Pattaya. The much larger HTMS Kood was sunk of Koh Sak in 2006 and
sister ship HTMS Khram in 2003 off Koh Phai. Other local wrecks include
the popular Hardeep, an Indonesian cargo ship that had been commandeered
by the Japanese during World War II, which was sunk during an aerial
attack by allied planes in Samaesan in WW2; and the Petchaburi Bremen
that went down between Sattahip and Koh Khram in the 1930’s following an
explosion in the engine room.
The HTMS Mataphon underway
early in its career.
