Bombay Castle (South China Sea)
Bombay Castle (Vietnamese Bãi Ba Kè, Chinese : Pi-p'o pao chiao / Pengbo Bao)[1] is a shoal with a lighthouse in the Rifleman Bank of the southern Spratly Islands. It is occupied by Vietnam.[2]
Location and Topography
Bombay Castle consists of a submerged reef located between Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. and Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (between Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. and Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.) at the northern end of Rifleman Bank.[3][4] At its shallowest point, it has a depth of 3 meters consisting of sand and coral.[5] It lies 80 miles east of Huyền Trân (Alexandra Bank) and nearly 80 miles west of An Bang (Amboyna Cay).[6] Bombay Castle has a 22.5 metre tall lighthouse (built:1995) on steel pilings. The lighthouse is two storied, with accommodation for the lighthouse keepers and a dish antenna.[7][8]
The reef is named after the East Indiaman clipper Bombay Castle.[9]
DK1 rigs
In addition to the lighthouse (DK1/21), three other DK1 rigs ("economic, scientific and technological service stations") have been constructed by Vietnam in this area. The current (2015) cluster has 3 rigs in use.
- DK1/4: Completed 16 June 1989, was the 2nd DK1 rig completed. It collapsed on the night of 4 December 1990 during a heavy storm.[10]
- DK1/9: Completed 22 August 1993.[11]
- DK1/20: Completed 13 August 1998.[12]
- DK1/21: Completed 19 August 1998. This rig includes a lighthouse.[13]
See also
References
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- Vietnamese lighthouse on Bombay Castle (photo)
- NGA chart 93049 showing Rifleman, Southwest and Vanguard Banks, (7-9N,109-112E), oceangrafix.com
- Larger scale charts also showing Vietnam coast: NGA chart 93020 (7-10N,104-110E), NGA chart 93030 (9-16N,105-116E), oceangrafix.com
- DK1 rigs photo gallery, hoangsa.org
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