- info@drenchedprodutions.com
17 March 2022
Pirates can’t resist a good shipwreck or buried treasure – and with the HMAS Tobruk, we found both! An unforgettable adventure for the Expedition Drenched crew.
The HMAS Tobruk was floating on the surface of the ocean until it was scuttled in mid-2018 off the coast of Bundaberg and Hervey Bay. It opened to underwater adventure seekers like us in late February 2019 and it offers glimpses of some amazing marine life and a truly quirky structure to navigate.
The HMAS Tobruk is a premier wreck dive site for the Queensland area of Australia and is not to be missed by any adventurous wreck seeker. Since we’re pirates, we couldn’t resist going hunting for this bit of sunken treasure. We found it and dove it as a crew, even celebrating a crew birthday exploring the longest swim-through in the world!
The HMAS Tobruk was a Battle-class destroyer that was completed in 1947. Commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy in 1950, it was deployed to the Korean War twice and served with the Far East Strategic Reserve three times.
In September 1960, the Royal Australian Navy was running gunnery exercises off Jervis Bay with the Tobruk’s sister ship, the HMAS Anzac. During the exercise, the Anzac’s gun direction equipment malfunctioned and she launched a shell that hit the Tobruk. Temporary repairs to the ship were made in Jervis Bay to that the ship was sea-worthy for the trip to Sydney.
It was too expensive to repair her completely so she was never sent back into active battle. Until she was decommissioned in 2015, she was used for transporting soldiers, vehicles, and tanks to different shore locations.
The scuttling of the ship did not go quite as planned and it left the ship sitting on its side instead of firmly on its hull. The State Government had been considering fixing the placement of the wreck to make it safer but instead has decided to promote the new wreck dive site as it is. The site is a safe dive site and the government decision just means that divers could get out there faster.
Diving on the HMAS Tobruk is a compelling experience that draws divers of all levels from all over the world (including us). It’s a HUGE shipwreck. It’s seriously imposing sitting on the floor of the ocean. You can swim for over 100 meters in the same direction INSIDE the ship. That’s one of the main reasons we wanted to dive into this wreck – it contains the longest artificial underwater swim-through in the world. That fact alone is enough to pique the interest of any diver worth their weight in saltwater.
The swim-throughs, nooks, and crannies are all super interesting and full of curious surprises, but every single area of the ship is begging to be explored. We don’t recommend going inside a shipwreck without any kind of artificial light source but a flashlight on this dive is extra important. With the right light, you can properly explore the troop areas, crew quarters, tank deck, and even the bathrooms that are now growing corals.
While the site is accessible to beginner-level divers, we recommend a minimum advanced level certification to fully enjoy the wreck site. Why? Well, simply because divers with more training and more experience will have much better control over their buoyancy and will be able to navigate the small hallways and entries without touching the wreck itself.
We LOVED checking out the inside of the Tobruk but going inside a shipwreck isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time. If you’re the kind of diver who prefers to enjoy wrecks from the outside, the HMAS Tobruk still has you covered. The waters around the Fraser Coast and Bundaberg contain life like manta rays, groupers, cod, Spanish mackerel, sea turtles, and even migrating humpback whales (from May to November). Enjoy close encounters with amazing marine creatures with the impressive HMAS Tobruk as a backdrop. We even exited the ship to be greeted by two large eagle rays!
Shipwrecks become hugely complex underwater ecosystems once they’ve been down there long enough. Their rigid structures provide the perfect substrate for corals and hiding places for small fish and even larger ocean creatures. But if the HMAS Tobruk is one of the newest wreck dive sites in the world, what life could there possibly be to see?
The answer is simple – tons. A ridiculous amount of marine life, actually. The complex structure of the ship itself provided just the right kind of nooks and crannies for lace corals and sponges to form. These structures attracted giant clams, smaller fish like clownfish, and invertebrates like feather stars. And once the small stuff moves in, the bigger things arrive. A lucky diver could see a humpback whale, a variety of sharks, marble rays, huge potato cod, and even eagle rays out in the blue water around the wreck itself.
We love the ocean so we were thrilled to learn that the dive site is being controlled by local authorities. To protect the dive site and its marine inhabitants, fishing and spearfishing at or near the site are illegal. A 600m exclusion zone also exists around the dive site to protect divers from boat traffic and other hazards. We were the only boat moored at the wreck site that day but it is in an active bay so the dive safety exclusion zone made us feel really comfortable. And, of course, it’s awesome to know that the underwater creatures we met are safe from illegal fishing activities.
The HMAS Tobruk served Australia for many years. It protected Australia from invasion and kept her waters safe. Now the Tobruk keeps her waters interesting and adventurous. We were in awe of its size and how the ocean has reclaimed her as its own. You should definitely add the HMAS Tobruk to your list of must-dive places! Dot it now while it’s still full of marine life instead of human life!
Web: https://expeditiondrenched.org
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DrenchedDivers
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExpeditionDr…
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/expeditiond…
Merch: https://expeditiondrenched.org/collections/products
Expedition drenched is a U.S. based marine educational non profit 501c3 made possible by our donors and patrons. If you love scuba, sailing, travel, adventure, exploration, conservation, and all things aquatic, we really hope you will continue to follow us on our journey. Our goal in making these videos is to show the world all the amazing, beautiful, and strange inhabitants of the ocean in the hopes that we will all be inspired to protect it.
If you liked our video, keep watching them! Subscribe! Thumbs Up!
Let us know what you think in the comments! Share us with all your favorite mermaids and mermen in your life!
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DrenchedDivers
Cameras we use:
Underwater:
Lighting:
Expedition Drenched has long since grown from its humble beginnings to now being an Ocean Advocacy Lifestyle Brand that houses many International Artists from all over the world.
