Tim dives along the hull

Pete tech diving the propeller of HMS Repulse

These Royal Navy vessels were part of a second world war battlegroup, Force Z. In december 1941 this battlegroup was patrolling the waters of the South China Sea. After being attacked by torpedo bombers of the Japanese Airforce both were sunk with the loss of 840 lives.

The Repulse now lies in 56m of water while the Prince of Wales lies slightly deeper at 68m. The Prince of Wales is unfortunatly virtually upside down but is still an impressive dive being that it was the larger of the two vessels. The Repulse is lying on its port side and being slightly shallower than her sister ship allows for slightly longer bottom times. She is a beautiful wreck with lots to see, especially the guns and ammunition. Both wrecks are covered with fish life and usually provide excellent visibility (30m+).

However the wrecks are located in what is now a busy fishing channel and can often experience strong currents and as a result trips will only be for experienced technical divers. Here at the S.E.A. explorers club we can organise liveaboard trips to these ships either travelling from Koh Tao or going direct to Singapore.