Wrecks - First World War

Category: Wrecks --- See Latest World War I news here.

The wreck of British naval submarine HMS E18 found in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Estonia bbc.co.uk :: 2009-10-26
HMS E18, with 3 officers and 28 ratings, went out on patrol in May 1916 and was never seen again. The sub was one of a handful sent to the Baltic during the Great War by Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, to cut off German shipments of iron ore from Sweden and support the Russian navy. E18 left its base in the Russian port of Reval - now Tallinn - on 25 May 1916 and headed west. The following day she was reported to have engaged and torpedoed a German ship. A few days later she is thought to have hit a German mine and sunk with all hands. After the submarine's loss, Tsar Nicholas of Russia granted posthumous medals to the crew. [WW1 Submarines]

10-ton deck gun from the SS Laurentic rescued from the deep bbc.co.uk :: 2009-09-27
After almost a century on the sea bed a First World War relic has been salvaged, restored and put on display. The 10-ton deck gun from the SS Laurentic was raised from the sea by a team of divers from Downings in County Donegal. They have now restored the weapon and put it on show at the local pier. The gun was one of 8 guns on the Laurentic and the second to be salvaged from the sea bed. The Laurentic was on its way to Canada to collect ammunition for the war effort in 1917 when it struck a German mine off the Donegal coast. The ship had a cargo of over 3,000 gold bars at the time - most of it now recovered. [Wrecks]

Divers id First World War submarine U-40 in North Sea after 100 years timesonline.co.uk :: 2009-03-29
It was a key moment in Britain's WW1 effort which set the nation on a course to victory at sea. On June 23, 1915, the first German U-boat was lured by a Q-ship (a decoy trawler) and was then sunk by a British sub lurking below. Since then the U-40 has lain in the depths of the North Sea, until recenrly a diving team id'ed the wreck. The U-40 was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS C-24, which was hiding beneath the decoy trawler Taranaki on a towline. When given the signal, the submarine surfaced and, in spite of becoming tangled in the cable, scored a hit with a single torpedo. Of the 32 on board, only the commander Gerhardt Furbringer and two others survived. [WW1 Submarines]

French battleship Danton, sunk in 1917 by a German submarine, found bbc.co.uk :: 2009-02-21
A French battleship sunk in 1917 by a German submarine has been discovered in good condition on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea. The Danton, with gun turrets still intact, is sitting upright in over 1,000m of water. It was discovered by the Fugro geosciences company during a survey for a gas pipeline. The Danton, which sank with 296 sailors still onboard, lies 35km southwest of Sardinia. The Danton's Captain Delage stood on the bridge with his officers and made no attempt to leave the ship as it went under. A comparison with the original plans for the battleship, especially the position of its 240mm guns, confirms the wreck's identity. [Wrecks]

Divers search area where U-57 sank the Scarborough fishing fleet yorkshirepost.co.uk :: 2009-01-04
As dawn broke more than 90 years ago over the North Sea a U-boat captain ordered the destruction of the Scarborough fishing fleet. Long after his attack in 1916, which sent a dozen trawlers to the bottom of the North Sea, Karl Von Georg recalled: "What a massacre of ships that was! We steered back and forth firing at full speed with the bow gun. One after another the ships hit at the water line... until all had vanished from the surface of the sea." But Von Georg also saved over 120 lives, making sure they were all moved to a boat to carry them home. Now divers from Scarborough Sub Aqua Club have pinpointed the resting places of at least 6 of the trawlers. [Wrecks]

Divers: Lusitania carried arms - 4 million rounds of .303s discovered so far chattahbox.com :: 2008-12-29
It was May 7, 1915, a day that became one of the most important for the U.S. in the Great War. The Lusitania, a passenger ship carrying almost 1,200 people (128 U.S. citizens), was cruising along the coast of Ireland, when a German torpedo hit her. Soon a second explosion from somewhere within the ship rocked the giant ocean liner. In less then 20 minutes she had been taken under - with her 1,119 of the people onboard. It persuaded the U.S. to join the British in their battle against the Germans. But the divers say the Germans may have been right: The Lusitania was holding more then just people. So far 4,000,000 rounds of .303s were found on board. [Wrecks]

Lusitania wreck to be explored by F. Greg Bemis Jnr. southernstar.ie :: 2008-08-01
F. Greg Bemis Jnr. is planning to explore the wreck of the Lusitania, torpedoed by a German submarine in 1915, an event America later used to enter into WWI. In 1982 he hauled up items from the ship - the ransacking angered many people - and battles still go on in the Irish courts. Bemis argues that a probe will prove his theory that the liner was secretly carrying ammunition to Britain which, when it exploded, caused the destruction of the liner. And there's more: it's claimed that among the ship's debris are lead containers that hold masterpieces (paintings by Monet and Rubens) from the famous Lane collection. [Wrecks]

Divers discover German U-boat wreckage - U12 sunk in 1915 bbc :: 2008-01-15
Jim MacLeod, of Bo'ness, and Martin Sinclair discovered the wreckage of the U12, 25 miles from Eyemouth. They had been seeking the 60-metre U-boat for 5 years. The location has been reported to the German authorities as 19 sailors died in the sinking and relatives will be notified. The site has been declared a war grave and it will stay untouched. The divers enlisted the help of a researcher who was able to acquire log books from destroyers HMS Ariel, Acheron and Attack - involved in the sinking of the U12 - to pinpoint the site. And they found the boat resting 150ft down on the seabed. [WW1 Submarines]

Undersea finds that ring a bell with war historians yorkshirepost :: 2007-11-21
Bells from ships lost during the Great War have seen daylight after Yorkshire sub aqua club members struck lucky while exploring wrecks. 7 bells have been recovered off the Yorkshire Coast by a number of enthusiasts who usually find one a year. Many of the wrecks were torpedoed fishing vessels but one team recovered bells from two better known casualties of WW1 U-boat campaign: the SS London and SS John Miles. The John Miles was sent to the bottom in Feb. 1917 by Bruno Mahn whose UB21 crew sank 21 vessels off the North Yorkshire Coast, and sank or crippled another 15 along the East Coast. He also landed two saboteurs near Whitby only months before the Armistice.

Salvaged from the depths: gun from a Belfast liner sunk in 1917 belfasttelegraph.co.uk :: 2007-10-06
Diver Kevin McShane spoke of his delight at leading the recovery of an historic 10.2 tonne gun from the wreck of a World War I liner off the coast of Donegal. He was the chief diver on The Laurentic salvage project - aimed to retrieve one of 8 guns from the Harland and Wolff-built sister ship of the Nomadic, which went down off Malin Head in 1917 after hitting German mines. The divers have one last trip to make to recover the stand for the gun. And they might even be lucky enough to come across the 25 gold bars that remain unrecovered from the wreck which sank en route to Nova Scotia carrying more than £5m worth of gold bullion to pay for American munitions. [Wrecks]

Australian female diver hospitalized during Gallipoli sub AE2 salvage abc :: 2007-09-14
Turkey: An Australian woman who was studying the wreck of the Australian World War One submarine HMAS AE2 is recovering in hospital after a scuba diving accident. The 35-year-old woman was working with a joint Australian and Turkish team studying the wreck, which sunk in 1915 during the Gallipoli campaign. [see also the "related story: Looking beneath the surface of the Gallipoli campaign"] [Wrecks]

Search fails: Mystery of Australia's first submarine HMAS AE1 remains theage :: 2007-05-31
Searchers have failed to solve the mystery of what happened to Australia's first submarine, lost off Papua New Guinea in 1914 at the start of World War I. Navy search teams had hoped an object on the seabed off PNG would be the submarine AE1. Instead it turned out to be a submarine-shaped rock formation - located earlier by the navy survey ship HMAS Benalla in an area where it was believed AE1 sank with all 35 crew on Sept 14, 1914. The next step was a close-up examination by a camera-equipped remotely operated vehicle (ROV) from one of the navy's minehunters. The examination by the minehunter HMAS Yarra proved a disappointment. [Wrecks]

Diver wins right to explore wreck of the Lusitania to resolve mystery timesonline :: 2007-04-02
Mystery surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania may be resolved after the owner of the Cunard liner won his case to dive on the wreck. Gregg Bemis can realise a 40-year dream to uncover what made "the Greyhound of the Sea" sink so fast after she was torpedoed by a German U-boat U-20 off southwest Ireland in May 1915. The Lusitania sank in 18 minutes taking 1,198 people with her. The sinking caused massive controversy because the vessel was carrying civilian passengers. The captain of the German U-boat, Walther Schwieger, was branded a war criminal, and the furore added to pressure on the US to enter the Great War. [Wrecks]

SMS Cormoran exhibit - German WWI merchant raider guampdn :: 2007-03-31
Article no longer available from the original source.
For 90 years, the SMS Cormoran lies at the bottom of Guam's Apra Harbor, visited only by curious divers. Now it is going to get a big bash. Guam has planned events for the 90th anniversary of the ship's demise. During the First World War SMS Cormoran was a German merchant raider - an armed ship ready to attack enemy commerce but disguised as a noncombatant merchant vessel. Pulling into Apra Harbor on Dec. 14, 1914, it had only 50 tons of coal on board. Guam had very little coal to give. Without fuel, SMS Cormoran was forced into internment. When war broke out between Germany and the U.S., captain Adalbert Zuckschwerdt scuttled the ship. [Wrecks]

World War I Australian Submarine Ae2 To Be Recovered turkishpress :: 2006-11-15
WW1 submarine Aero 02 (AE2), which was damaged by a Turkish torpedo boat and was scuttled by her crew in Istanbul Strait in 1915, will be recovered under a project sponsored by Australia. Project's Turkish advisor Vecihi Basaran said: "On April 25th, 1915, AE2 became the first Allied submarine to pass through the Canakkale Strait to attack Turkish shipping in the Sea of Marmara. Unable to find any large troop transport to attack, she was damaged on April 29th in an attack by the Turkish torpedo boat SultanHisar in Artaki Bay and was scuttled by its crew." According to Basaran, the submarine belonged to Turkey. [Wrecks]

Search for first New Zealand ship sunk in WW1 newswire :: 2006-11-14
Article no longer available from the original source.
Divers and historians have joined forces to find the sunken wreck of the first ship to go down in New Zealand waters in the First World War. The Wairuna was sunk by a German ship on June 17 1917, and was one of only four ships lost to the enemy in New Zealand waters during the great war. Rodney Russ says there is no great wealth on board the Wairuna, but if they find the wreck it could become a renowned diving site. [Wrecks]

1918 wreckage of a World War One patrol boat surveyed whtimes :: 2006-11-09
WGC-based Mid Herts Divers recorded the wreckage of a World War 1 patrol boat, sunk off the Isle of Wight in 1918. 10 of the Mid Herts club's members sketched, recorded and photographed the wreck of the escort and submarine hunting boat called P-12. The survey was part of the Nautical Archaeological Society's Wreckmap project. Scuba diving clubs were encouraged to choose a wreck, to survey it and monitor the marine life and deterioration of the wreck. [Wrecks]

The role of submarine HMAS AE2 in the Gallipoli WWI campaign news-au :: 2006-11-07
Few are aware of the role a submarine played in the Gallipoli WWI campaign. Australia's HMAS AE2 was the first allied submarine to penetrate the Dardanelles as part of a wider campaign that paralysed enemy shipping. The sub dodged minefields, evaded patrol craft and survived heavy shell fire before torpedoing a Turkish gunboat. But HMAS AE2 came under attack from a Turkish torpedo boat, resulting in the crew losing control of the vessel and being forced to abandon ship, without loss of life. The Government said it would give $368,500 to the Submarine Institute of Australia (SIA) to survey and tell the story of HMAS AE2. [Navy - Naval Forces & Battles]

The wreck of a World War I U-Boat UB81 degrading fast portsmouthtoday :: 2006-09-25
The wreck of a First World War U-Boat is set to get special protection because it is rotting so fast the bones of those sailors who died inside can be seen by divers. The UB81 is to receive "designated wreck" status under the Protection of Military Remains Act, meaning only those with the right licence will be able to get up close. The site is already a war grave for 27 German sailors and a favourite among members of the local diving community. [WW1 Submarines]

WW1 wreck mystery -- "It's a wreck that shouldn't be there" bbc :: 2006-06-27
Archaeologists are to investigate a wreck reported to be that of a German warship previously said to have been salvaged and scrapped. Records claim the V81, which was at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, was raised in 1937. However, members of Diving Club said it was still on the seabed. Information on the fate of the V81 is "cloudy". The destroyer was part of the German High Seas Fleet which fought the Royal Navy in the Battle of Jutland, off Denmark's coast. Some 8,648 British and German sailors lost their lives in one day's fighting on 31 May into 1 June 1916. In 1919, the vessel and 73 other German warships were scuttled in Scapa Flow, Orkney. [Navy - Naval Forces & Battles]

Historic battleships wrecks win protection icnewcastle :: 2006-06-03
Two Tyneside-built battleships sunk in the greatest naval conflict of the First World War are to be given new protection. To mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland, Veterans' Minister Tom Watson has announced plans to preserve the 14 British ships sunk by the German Navy that day. Two of the largest ships in the British Grand Fleet sunk during the 18 hours of intense fighting between May 31 and June 1, 1916, were built on Tyneside. They were the 27,000-ton battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary and the 17,500-ton flagship battlecruiser HMS Invincible. [Wrecks]

First World War in the News is an edited review of hand-picked World War I 1914-1918 articles.