Ex-HMAS Brisbane - 133m long wreck in 5-30m on the Sunshine Coast

[Divectionist]

I finally managed to dive the Ex-HMAS Brisbane, a dive involving a bit of a driving commitment that had been cancelled on me a few times before. Visibility was miserable on the day, let's call it 5-7m, but it didn't matter for the first trip for the extra spook. I'll make sure to get a good day or night dive for the next trip though.

Ship
Below is a picture of the ship before she was scuttled off Mooloolaba in 2005, no more than a 15min ocean ride from the river mouth.

Official link with a detailed history of the ship: HMAS Brisbane (II) | Royal Australian Navy

At 133m long, she lies in perfect East/West alignment and is apparently only 1 degree off from perfectly upright. In other words, it's one of those few that made it to the bottom really well.

Depths
Sandy Bottom: 30m
Main Deck: 14-18m
Smoke stacks: 5m

Water
Unsheltered ocean site
Currents possible but plenty of lee, mooring line access to the wreck
18C (winter) to 27C (summer)
Visibility: 5-25m (expect 10-15 average)

Marine life spotted
Lots of overgrowth and action, very friendly turtles (that come right up to you), a big bull ray, eagle rays, barracuda, clown fish, tons of bait fish balls inside and out, lobsters, stone fish, massive groupers, the usual for the area.

Wreck
Plenty of exciting wreck pieces all over the ship with two big deck guns, a missile silo, and very easy access to the inside via a lot of openings and cut-outs (see image) that classify this as a swim-through rather than wreck penetration, and there is no silting inside. You can spend a long time going along inside the ship to explore the various rooms without having to lay a line because there's always a couple daylight exits visible. Whether you just want to peek in or drop into some eerie openings until your torch finds a surface, it's a dive site for any comfort level that will get me back for many more trips because there is no way to see it all in a day. Navigation could not be easier. The exterior is just as interesting to explore, and you can drop down the stern and squeeze under the rudder area to crawl from one side to the other underneath the ship.

I've gotten to 27.4m max depth under the stern and you will definitely want to breathe 32% (and hope your buddy does, too) to drop down the bow and stern, swim along the base, and spend some time down in the hull. The air divers will see their mistake on dive 2. I can only imagine how well this is suited to extended tech dives.

Anyway, all I wanted to say is go dive the Ex-HMAS Brisbane if you come across the area, approx. 1h North of Brisbane, it's the best wreck I've ever seen (not that I've seen many).

 

[lermontov]

if you enjoyed th Brisbane youll love the Tobruk up in Hervey Bay

 

[Pressurehead]

I know this ship well, dived 4 times on it this year.
I was one of the first guides on it when it was first scuttled [I served on these ships,the sister ship HMAS Perth was my best posting], DDGs, great ships. I had a tear in my eyes when it went down.
The marine life on and around it now is amazing, better then going to Korea [like the HMAS Melbourne, 2 year on that] and coming back as an Hyundais or whatever.

 

[Searcaigh]

I did two dives on that wreck about five years ago but I prefer the SS Yongala further north off Ayr just south of Townsville.

The water was warmer there too

 

[napDiver]

I did two dives on that wreck about five years ago but I prefer the SS Yongala further north off Ayr just south of Townsville.

The water was warmer there too

+1 on the SS Yongala. It was one of the best wrecks I've ever done (No Penetration). I'm going to have to hit up this wreck next time I can go to AUS. Maybe... in a couple years T.T

Ya'll have any UW video/photos of the HMAS?

 

[Pressurehead]

I did two dives on that wreck about five years ago but I prefer the SS Yongala further north off Ayr just south of Townsville.

The water was warmer there too

SS Yongala wreck is a world class dive, a real wreck [122 people died]. And it's in warm water, max depth 30m,with BIG marine life.
The xHMAS Brisbane was scuttled [sunk on purpose] , does not have the 'mystique' of a REAL wreck, but still fun to dive for divers from "The Big Smoke", the money they spend is very welcome for the local dive shops and dive charter boats [I ran a charter there years ago] , too many "nanny state rules now".
Off Sydney is a wreck I like to dive [been a few years now] The SS Annie M. Miller rests 50m [my depth gauge said 45m], now that is a wreck dive .
Edit: Link did not work,sorry I will try again.
The Brisbane youtube by Ryan Simpson 2019 :

 

[Divectionist]

I'll definitely do the Tobruk and Yongala this coming year.

 

[clownfishsydney]

[Off Sydney is a wreck I like to dive [been a few years now] The SS Annie M. Miller rests 50m [my depth gauge said 45m], now that is a wreck dive .[/QUOTE]
SS Annie M Miller is maximum of 45 metres. Not a bad wreck, but many more in Sydney are better.

 

[Pressurehead]

[Off Sydney is a wreck I like to dive [been a few years now] The SS Annie M. Miller rests 50m [my depth gauge said 45m], now that is a wreck dive .

SS Annie M Miller is maximum of 45 metres. Not a bad wreck, but many more in Sydney are better.[/QUOTE]

I have dive the Miller more then most of the other wrecks in the Sydney area, I just like it [17 times in a 2 year period] We dived every wreck we could in the Sydney area from the SS Woniora [spelling?] deep to the SS Malabar shallow.
I was going to go on about the gear we used ie twins,pony, stages , stage deco depths and times ,O2 , chamber on the surface [some times] diving before it became technical.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

I remember diving the Brisbane's sister ship Hobart down in South Australia in 2004, not long after she was scuttled. The joke among my dive club members at Flinders University was that once it started attracting a lot of marine life, it would have to be "South Australian dive technique" - i.e., roll off the boat and head straight down in case a white shark was about. I'd be interested to see how much it's changed in 16 years. Like Brisbane, it was sunk on an even keel in about 30 meters of water, with the masts trimmed off at 5 meters to make for a good safety stop.

We did two dives on the Hobart, which was enough to cover most of the wreck; on the exterior we got down to the sonar dome at the bow and covered the main deck level from bow to stern. Sadly the crackerbox UW film camera I had back in those days didn't get a picture I had taken of me sitting in one of the bridge chairs. I do have one of the lawn gnome someone had placed in the other one. As I recall, the interior of the funnels had been cut away so it was possible to drop down one, swim aft into what I recall was the mess hall, and then drop down through another cutout into the engineering spaces. My dive buddy and I did that and then, seeing a small amount of silt caught in our lights and with regulator noises in our ears, proceeded to have a brief mock lightsaber battle in the engine room. After that we squeezed up the escape trunk and exited through the aft superstructure.