Usat Liberty Wreck

The USAT Liberty is a 120-m former United States Army cargo ship lying on its starboard side just off a black volcanic sand beach in Tulamben, Bali. The wreck is the site's main attraction and has become an artificial reef, its surfaces completely encrusted with hard and soft corals, sponges, gorgonians, anemones and other invertebrates that form a living reef habitat. Access is by shore entry across a volcanic pebble beach with a short 20–30 m swim to the wreck, which sits about 25–30 m from shore on a gently sloping sand bottom. Depths range from roughly 3–5 m at the stern to about 30 m at the bow, making much of the site suitable for open-water divers while the deepest sections approach advanced limits. Conditions are generally calm with rare strong currents, visibility commonly 15–30 m, and water temperatures around 26–29 °C (shorty or lightweight exposure). Typical routes follow the starboard side from stern to bow, staying on the outside of the structure; the wreck is too broken to allow safe penetration. A safety consideration is the rocky beach entry - waves on the cobble beach can make gear transport awkward, so divers often enter arm in arm and wear booties. The vessel was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1942, was beached at Tulamben, and slipped off the shore into the sea during the 1963 eruption of Mt. Agung. Notable visible features include the stern rudder and anchor, mid-ship boilers, and the intact forward gun.