SEAArch – The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

13 Aug 2006 (Jakarta Post) – A group of volunteers have been prevented from photogaphing the remains of the sunken USS Houston off the waters of Indonesia.

U.S. Navy halts planned dive of sunken ship near Indonesia

The U.S. Navy has scuttled the plans of a sheriff to photograph the inside of the sunken USS Houston near Indonesia because of worries the wreck might be disturbed.

The association of sailors who survived the World War II sinking had commissioned the photos. A team led by Jerry Ranger, a lieutenant with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office in Florida and the son of a USS Houston surviving prisoner of war, had gone to the site in the Sunda Straits off Java.

The team included Dave Phillips of St. Louis County, Minnesota, who has experience using a remotely operated vehicle camera during his duties with the sheriff’s office and its volunteer rescue squad. He had planned to photograph the inside of the ship from Thursday through Wednesday.

Tags: Indonesia archaeology, Java, Sunda Straits, underwater archaeology, USS Houston World War II archaeology

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