The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast: Preserving the Story of WWII Era Heavy Cruiser USS Houston (CA-30)
Dublin Core
Title
The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast: Preserving the Story of WWII Era Heavy Cruiser USS Houston (CA-30)
Description
The topic of this abstract fits best within the Underwater Cultural Heritage of World War II in the Asia-Pacific
Region: Discoveries, Opportunities & Challenges session of the conference as it is directly relevant to the session’s
theme. The paper presents a case study on the wreck site of USS Houston (CA-30), a heavy cruiser located in
Banten Bay, Indonesia, sank in combat during the Battle of Sunda Strait in 1942. It is associated with one of the
greatest losses of life tied to a single sinking event in U.S. Navy history. The wrecksite of USS Houston has been
documented over the course of the last several years through the use of diving and remote-sensing based surveys.
Collaborative management efforts between the Governments of Indonesia and the United States have recently
focused on site preservation, a point of particular concern as nearby contemporary warships have suffered
significantly at the hands of unauthorized salvage operations. The results presented will demonstrate what has been
learned about the shipwreck over the course of the last decade, as well as highlight transnational approaches to the
preservation of underwater cultural heritage sites.
Region: Discoveries, Opportunities & Challenges session of the conference as it is directly relevant to the session’s
theme. The paper presents a case study on the wreck site of USS Houston (CA-30), a heavy cruiser located in
Banten Bay, Indonesia, sank in combat during the Battle of Sunda Strait in 1942. It is associated with one of the
greatest losses of life tied to a single sinking event in U.S. Navy history. The wrecksite of USS Houston has been
documented over the course of the last several years through the use of diving and remote-sensing based surveys.
Collaborative management efforts between the Governments of Indonesia and the United States have recently
focused on site preservation, a point of particular concern as nearby contemporary warships have suffered
significantly at the hands of unauthorized salvage operations. The results presented will demonstrate what has been
learned about the shipwreck over the course of the last decade, as well as highlight transnational approaches to the
preservation of underwater cultural heritage sites.
Creator
Alexis Catsambis
Publisher
The Museum of Underwater Archaeology
Date
2023
Language
English
Bibliographic Citation
Catsambis, Alexis. 2023. “The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast: Preserving the Story of WWII Era Heavy Cruiser USS Houston (CA-30).” Edited by Jennifer Craig, Jay Mok, T. Kurt Knoerl, and Alexis Catsambis. In Proceedings of Fifth Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage: Gwangju, The Republic of Korea, November 13-18 2023. The Museum of Underwater Archaeology. URL: https://apconf.omeka.net/exhibits/show/apconfproceedings/item/1896
Files
Citation
Alexis Catsambis, “The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast: Preserving the Story of WWII Era Heavy Cruiser USS Houston (CA-30),” Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Proceedings, accessed December 8, 2025, https://apconf.omeka.net/items/show/1896.