THE STEEL CAT
The HMAS Brisbane was one of three destroyers built by Defoe Shipbuilding Co. in the USA for the Royal Australian Navy. A Charles F. Adams class guided missile destroyer, she was 133.19m long with a 14.3m wide beam and displayed 3370 tons or 4500 tons when fully loaded. Powered by two GE steam turbine drive shafts, which produced 70,000 shaft horse power, she was a very streamlined and fast ship, hence her nickname ‘The Steel Cat’, and had a top speed of 35 knots and a range of 4500 nautical miles when cruising at 15 knots or 2000 nautical miles at 30 knots.
The HMAS Brisbane was launched on 5th May 1966 and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 16th December 1967. She carried a crew of 20 officers and 312 sailors and was based at Sydney’s Garden Island Naval Dockyard.
SERVICE RECORD
The HMAS Brisbane and her crew were called upon to serve two tours of duty off the Vietnam coastline during the Vietnam War in 1969 and in 1971. During these tours she served with the US Seventh Fleet, providing fire support to the ground troops. Her armaments included two 5 inch MK42 Mod 10 automatic rapid fire guns, two 20mm Vulcan Phalanx MK15 close in weapons systems, anti-air missile system, Harpoon anti-ship missile system, four 0.50 calibre machine guns and two triple mounted anti-submarine torpedo tubes that fired Mk48 torpedoes.
During her time off the Vietnam coast the HMAS Brisbane fired 651 rounds and
her crew were renowned for their accuracy over five miles, receiving another
nickname for the ship ‘The Five Mile Sniper’.The destroyer next saw active service in the first Gulf War, stationed in the Persian Gulf from 20th November 1990 to 26th March 1991. Even though she saw no combat, her duties involved anti-aircraft and anti-surface ship protection for the US Navy aircraft carriers of Battle Force Zulu. She also intercepted merchant vessels and escorted supply ships.
Her peace time service involved numerous joint exercises with the US navy and patrols around Australia. The HMAS Brisbane was also the first ship in Darwin Harbour after Cyclone Tracy destroyed the city in December 1974. Her sailors helped the survivors by restoring services to the devastated city.
DECOMMISSIONING
The HMAS Brisbane was decommissioned in October 2001 after a long and varied career. When tenders were called for her future there were two main options, either moth-ball her as a museum and spend millions of dollars a year maintaining her or sink the ship as an artificial reef and allow visiting divers to inject millions of dollars in the economy. The second option was seen as the best, especially after the successful sinking of three other destroyers HMAS Swan, HMAS Perth and HMAS Hobart as artificial reefs. Several groups lobbied to get the ship, with the Sunshine Coast Artificial Reef Group (SCARG) being the successful tenders.
BATTLE FOR THE HMAS BRISBANE
SCARG had planned to sink the destroyer 8km off Mooloolaba Harbour in 38m of water in November 2002, unfortunately things didn’t quite go to plan.
Winning the ship was just the first battle in a long campaign. The next hurdle faced was who was going to finance the cleaning and preparation of the vessel. The Queensland Government wasn’t interested in picking up this tab, so refused to accept the ship and sign the Deed of Gift. Fortunately the Federal Government came to the rescue, allocated three million dollars for the preparation expense.
Once this was sorted out in May 2002, SCARG thought they would have the go ahead and still have the ship on the bottom by November 2002. However, another issue delayed the acceptance of the ship - public liability insurance.
It was estimated that it would cost $250,000 a year to insure the vessel, to cover the government in the event of a diving accident. With the insurance issue dragging on for over a year, other groups from other states started to express interest in receiving the HMAS Brisbane, without strings attached. SCARG feared they would lose the vessel after all the hard work they had done.
You would think a project like this would unite the divers of South East Queensland, which it did for a while. Then a lot of misinformation was spread about the proposed site for the vessel off Mooloolaba, which muddied the waters. Rumours were spread that the ship was to be sunk in 50m of water, 22km offshore, in the shipping channel where strong currents are experienced. All of which were completely untrue.
This misinformation confused and delayed the sinking and helped to put more doubts in the mind of the Queensland Government.
However, in February 2004 the Queensland Government announced that it had resolved the public liability insurance. Finally the Queensland Government was prepared to sign the Deed of Gift and accept the HMAS Brisbane for Queensland.
During all this time the HMAS Brisbane had sat idle in Sydney, she was then towed to Brisbane, arriving at the Cairnscross Wharf in July 2004. Now began the hard work, preparing the ship for scuttling.
To make the ship safe for divers and the environment, all oil and other toxins had to be removed. All wiring had to be stripped out so a diver couldn’t become entangled. Doors were welded shut or removed so the ship could be safely penetrated. Holes were cut into the ship’s side to allow greater access and also to assist in the sinking. Even the hull had to be scrapped clean to remove the anti fouling protection so that corals could grow.
Along with the cleaning, several parts of the ship were removed. The missile launcher, propellers and bridge were cut off and went to a museum, while the mast was removed to serve as a memorial for the ship and crew on the Sunshine Coast.
THE SINKING
On the 29th July 2005 the HMAS Brisbane made her last voyage when she was towed overnight to her final resting place, 2.8 nautical miles east of Mudjimba Island, just north of Mooloolaba.
On Saturday the 30th July the last of the cleaning was finished and all of the plates that covered her thirty access holes were also hammered out.
Another team onboard the HMAS Brisbane, led by Canadian explosives expert Roy Gabriel, were setting the 38 chargers that would sink the destroyer as quickly as possible in an effort to settle her upright on the sandy bottom.
Sunday the 31st July 2005 will always be a day I’ll remember, the day the HMAS Brisbane was scuttled.
An exclusion zone was placed around the ship, but many of the hundreds of boaties that gathered to watch the sinking didn’t seem to be aware of this. It was chaos, with the police, coast guard and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) all chasing boats from the exclusion zone.
At 10am the exclusion zone was finally cleared of boats and the countdown could begin. The first explosion went off at 10.12am with fireballs rising above the ship. These were the crowd pleasers, the real explosions were happening under the water line.
The ship started to go down very quickly. In under a minute water was washing over her decks. Pockets of air were bubbling to the surface all round the hull. Her bow disappeared first, the stern quickly followed and then finally the funnels vanished. In just over two minutes the HMAS Brisbane was on the ocean floor.
THE FIRST DIVE
For the first few days only commercial divers were allowed on the HMAS Brisbane. They found her sitting upright in 27m of water. These divers quickly positioned six moorings around the ship and removed the detonation cables. They also made sure all the charges had successful gone off and the ship was safe for divers.
The HMAS Brisbane was not officially opened to recreational divers until the 13th August. However, the four dive operators that won tenders to take divers to the destroyer, Sunreef Diving Services, Scubaworld, Noosa Blue Water Dive and Heli-dive, were allowed to familiarise themselves with the ship before this date.
On the 3rd August I was very fortunate to join a group of instructors from Sunreef Diving Services for the very first recreational dive on the HMAS Brisbane.
The weather was perfect, light winds and only a small southerly swell. Ten eager divers headed out at 7.30am. It only took 20 minutes to reach the wreck site, which could clearly be seen in the blue water. We all quickly geared up.
Greg Riddell and Paul White, the owners of Sunreef Diving Services, were given the honour of being the first on the HMAS Brisbane due to all the hard work they had done with SCARG to acquire the ship for the Sunshine Coast.
I buddied up with Craig Carlyle and we quickly followed Greg and Paul into the water. In the 15m visibility I could clearly see the ship below me. We dropped onto the deck at a depth of 16m and headed straight for the bow gun turret. We swam around this impressive gun several times before dropping over the side to look at the large number 41 painted on the bow.
Moving in front of the ship she looked amazing sitting so upright on the sand, almost like she was still ploughing the ocean waves. We next headed along the side of the ship looking into several access holes (before the dive we all agreed not to penetrate the ship on this first dive, but to just explore her exterior). The interior looked very clean and bright, the access holes allowing plenty of light in. It was very tempting to enter, but we had plenty to see on the outside.
We swam along the gangway passing stairways, doorways, hose reels, bollards and a former gun placement. I had never dived on such a new clean wreck before and with the clear visibility I had to keep reminding myself I was actually underwater.
At the stern we had a close look at the stern gun turret before heading up the port side. This time we diverted to explore the funnels, radar tower and the area where the bridge once stood. There was just so much to see and take in on one dive.
On other dives since I have had a chance to penetrate the ship and have a good look inside her. The access holes allow so much light in that you could explore the interior without a torch, but without one you will miss many of the highlights. There is an endless maze of passageways and rooms to explore, where you can see toilets, switch boxes and even an ironing press. The engine and boiler rooms are very impressive, and dropping down the funnel to enter the engine room is a buzz. Allow at least a dozen dives if you want to fully explore the HMAS Brisbane.
THE ARTIFICIAL REEF
On the first dive on the
HMAS Brisbane I was surprised that I
didn’t see one fish. However that situation quickly changed. The first
resident to move in was a wobbegong shark only days after she went down. It is
amazing how quickly the hull has become encrusted in algae, ascidians, anemones
and barnacles, in just a few short weeks she was completely covered in growth.The first fish quickly found the hull and moved onto the ship in large numbers. Baitfish swarm around the funnels and feeding off them are a resident school of kingfish and more transient bonito, mackerel and cobia. Small reef fish dart around the hull – morwong, damsels, gobies, blennies, rabbitfish, leatherjackets, surgeonfish, lionfish, pufferfish and batfish to name just a few. Inside the ship estuary gropers have also been seen.
Under the stern schools of yellowtail gather and you will also see grinners, grubfish, black blotched stingrays and the odd white spotted shovelnose ray. Invertebrate species have also set up residence, including nudibranchs, featherstars, crabs, sea hares, squid, cuttlefish and octopus.
I was most amazed to find an anglerfish sitting on the sand under the hull on a recent dive and a family of ornate ghostpipefish in the algae – how did these little critters get on the wreck so fast?
Everyone is stunned by the amount of growth and marine life that this artificial reef has so quickly attracted and are keen to see how much hard and soft coral appears after the summer coral spawning.
The HMAS Brisbane and the area around her are fully protected as a marine sanctuary and boats are not allowed to tie up to her moorings or anywhere near her without a permit.
DIVE CONDITIONS
The HMAS Brisbane can be dived year round. Visibility on the destroyer varies from 5m to 30m, with 12m to 15m about average. Winter brings the most stable weather conditions to this part of the coast, however at almost anytime of the year the water can be clear and blue. The visibility is always best after southerly winds and sometimes murky after strong northerly winds. While the water temperature on the Sunshine Coast varies from 19C to 26C.
SUNSHINE COAST DIVE SITES
Don’t make the mistake of planning a trip to the Sunshine Coast and only diving the HMAS Brisbane as this section of coastline has many other brilliant dive sites. Two hours drive north of Mooloolaba is the town of Rainbow Beach which is the gateway to Wolf Rock – one of the most exciting dive sites in Australia. This pinnacle of rock is always swarming with marine life including grey nurse sharks, gropers and pelagic fish.
Off Noosa there are a number of colourful coral reefs, including Sunshine Reef, Jew Shoal and Halls Reef. The coral growth on these reefs is wonderful and divers will see a multitude of reef fish and invertebrate species, especially nudibranchs.
Offshore from Mooloolaba there are lovely coral reefs off Mudjimba Island, the Gneering Reefs and Murphys Reef. The coral gardens on these reefs are as good as any you will see on the Great Barrier Reef.
An hours drive south of Mooloolaba and you have a range of incredible diving off Brisbane, were you can dive coral reefs, rocky reefs, pinnacles, shipwrecks and artificial reefs.