Just the other day, I located and identified the wreck of LST-722, lying beached on the west coast of Thailand. She was built in 1944, and took part in the landings at Palawan, then Mindanao, and was subsequently sold to the Royal Thai Navy in 1975. The words Dodge County (she was renamed 'Dodge County' in 1955) are faintly visible on the port quarter, and although her guns were removed, their platforms are still there.
Sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner! What would you like to know? I've just gone back and explored her wreck, and it's truly incredible. From the picture I posted, you can see that there's a Higgins boat hoisted up on the davits. The whole ship is surprisingly intact. Unfortunately the guns were removed, but you can walk inside the entire thing. There was even a really old ping pong table in the ship's lounge! I actually found an old, worn blueprint of the ship in the cargo bay. I'll post some pictures.
No problem. I'll post again if I find any other wrecks. I managed to gain access to the largest Royal Thai Navy base in western Thailand, and I asked about LST-722. I got my way into the base thanks to a navy diver (though he spoke about zero English), despite the trim-looking Thai soldiers at all three of the roadblocks on my way to the base. I asked about it at the main office - before long, it seemed like half the base was making phone calls and foing through files, to help me get more information on LST-722! She was just on of five LST-542 class LSTs that was sold to Thailand after the war, and I learned that one of the others, LST-1141 (alias 'Stone County') is somewhere on Lanta island, a bit south of me. I'm hoping to get there and explore her too.
Now that would be nice! I know the Thais did in fact restore one of the five LSTs, either HTMS Lanta (LST-1141) or HTMS Pangan (LST-1134).
Pangan is a memorial at Koh Phangan, I think. There was some talk that Lanta was going to be preserved as well. Bill
Yes, that would make sense. I also know that LST-898, alias Chang in the Royal Thai Navy, was sunk as a dive site off Ko Chang, near the Thailand-Cambodia border. LST-924 was, unfortunately, scrapped by Thais following its decommissioning.
Niall: Do you know when Chang was reefed ? The last I knew of her, she was being used as a firefighting training hulk. Bill
Bill, According to www.koreanwar.org/html/units/navy/uss_lst898.htm, Chang was scuttled on Thursday, the twenty-second of November, 2012. I Googled HTMS Chang LST-898 dive, and came up with a few websites talking about the Chang's wreck - it appears to have been scuttled off the west coast of Ko Chang, though I haven't found a latitude and longitude. I'm not surprised she was used as a training ship, as LST-722 was the same - she was used as an amphibious warfare training ship for the Royal Thai Marines, until being decommissioned.
