On a cold day in February 1944, little would the workers of the Commercial Iron Works in Portland, Oregon, have known of the fate and unlikely resting place of the USS LCI(L) 739—now known to those who visit her as the HTMS Sattakut.
Before they were sunk into the Gulf of Mexico, the jets were gutted and attached to concrete anchors. Both jets were slowly lifted from the barge and briefly floated on top of the Gulf before they headed toward the ocean floor.
The two planes are now about 74 feet underwater and about 3 nautical miles from the M.B. Miller county pier. Divers expect fish to start coming to check it out any day.
Miles of white sandy beaches, family vacation destinations, infamous spring break festivities and outstanding state parks attract millions of visitors to Florida annually from around the world. But there is so much more to see—especially for those who like to take their sightseeing down below the ocean and gulf waters—like the beauty and magic of thousands of artificial reefs that lie beneath the surface along Florida’s coastlines.
Commercial clearance divers were expected to survey the wreck once it had settled later on Sunday to ensure all the charges had detonated.
Moorings will then be installed by Parks Victoria before the government opens the site for divers, in about a month's time.
Built in 1978 and launched two years later, the frigate served Australia for 24 years before it was decommissioned in 2005.
It served in the Middle East following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1992 and helped evacuate Australians from Jakarta in 1998 during the student riots that deposed Indonesian president Suharto.
