HMS Hermes
Conditions & tides
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Marine forecast via Copernicus Marine. Score is a rule-based guide from swell/wind vs. the site's exposure — always dive your own assessment.
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About this site
HMS Hermes is a World War II wreck off Batticaloa on the east coast of Sri Lanka. She was the first ship in history designed and built specifically as an aircraft carrier. Japanese aircraft sank her on 9 April 1942, together with her escort, the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire, and more than 300 crew were lost.
Depth and position: the wreck rests on a sandy seabed, lying on her port side. She sits at roughly 44 to 53 m (145 to 174 ft), which is past the 40 m recreational limit.
This is a technical dive. It needs decompression training, and divers use Trimix and twin sets with strict decompression protocols.
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What you see: black coral bushes and pink and purple soft corals cover the hull. Giant potato groupers, tuna, snapper, Napoleon wrasse and large schools of barracuda gather around the wreck. Divers can swim past her anti-aircraft guns and her large propeller.
Marine life here
Confirmed by our research team, reported by independent divers, or observed nearby via iNaturalist — each entry is labelled with its source.
SnapperSnapperReported here · unconfirmed
BarracudaBarracudaReported here · unconfirmed
GrouperGrouperReported here · unconfirmed
TunaTunaReported here · unconfirmed
Napoleon (humphead) wrasseNapoleon (humphead) wrasseReported here · unconfirmed
Durable tips from divers — access, hazards, marine life, facilities. For day-of conditions, use the report tool in the conditions card above.
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