![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
submarine redux
Newspaper article, although since the URL looks pretty generic (i.e. will be replaced next week), (reproduced without permission, etc.)
By Christy Parker
Two divers have located a U-boat sunk by a British warship off the Waterford coast in 1945.
Youghal man Gavin Tivy and Pat Waide of Ardmore Diving centre have twice visited the sunken vessel, U-1276, which lies on its side under 75 metres of sea over 20 miles southeast of Dungarvan.
"A lot of barnacles and trawler nets have accumulated round it, but you can clearly see into the engine room and where depth charges hit the hull", says Gavin.
U-1276 is 67 metres long, 9.6 metres high, weighed over 1,000 tons and carried 14 torpedoes. Submerged, it could reach 7.6 knots ph and 17.7 knots when surfaced and could dive to 820 ft. It was amongst 124 u-boats - and 3,912 lives - lost from January to May 1945.
The men's research has revealed how the sub's inexperienced crew met their doom following a crazy action. "U-1276 left Norway on January 28th and entered Irish waters via Scotland and Rockall," Gavin explains. "She was commanded by 24 year-old Kptlt Karl-Heinz Wendt, on only his first patrol with a crew mainly comprised of trainees.
"On February 20th, she encountered a British convoy of up to 40 ships returning from Nova Scotia. It sank HMCS, Vervain, a Corvette escorting the convoy. That was reckless, because the waters were too shallow to dive to safety".
Within minutes, U-1276 was sunk by an accompanying sloop, HMS Amethyst. All 49 crewmen perished.
Gavin and Pat have also found HMCS Vervain, within two miles of U-1276. "We don't know much about its crew but most were probably rescued", Gavin surmises.
In 1949 HMS Amethyst achieved fame for its desperate 104-mile dash to freedom down the Yangtze River under Chinese Communist fire. That adventure - and the ship itself - was recalled as a successful film in 1957. Ironically, damage done to the ship during filming caused it to be scrapped.
Timmy Carey of Fermoy sub-aqua club and Jim Teirney of undersea video company, 10barpics.com, have filmed the eerie wreck for posting on the web.
The men intend contacting the German navy and stress that the scene is being respected as a grave, with "absolutely nothing being removed. Relatives the sailors may wish to visit the area", says Gavin.
Divers find WWII U-Boat sunk south of Waterford
By Christy Parker
Two divers have located a U-boat sunk by a British warship off the Waterford coast in 1945.
Youghal man Gavin Tivy and Pat Waide of Ardmore Diving centre have twice visited the sunken vessel, U-1276, which lies on its side under 75 metres of sea over 20 miles southeast of Dungarvan.
"A lot of barnacles and trawler nets have accumulated round it, but you can clearly see into the engine room and where depth charges hit the hull", says Gavin.
U-1276 is 67 metres long, 9.6 metres high, weighed over 1,000 tons and carried 14 torpedoes. Submerged, it could reach 7.6 knots ph and 17.7 knots when surfaced and could dive to 820 ft. It was amongst 124 u-boats - and 3,912 lives - lost from January to May 1945.
The men's research has revealed how the sub's inexperienced crew met their doom following a crazy action. "U-1276 left Norway on January 28th and entered Irish waters via Scotland and Rockall," Gavin explains. "She was commanded by 24 year-old Kptlt Karl-Heinz Wendt, on only his first patrol with a crew mainly comprised of trainees.
"On February 20th, she encountered a British convoy of up to 40 ships returning from Nova Scotia. It sank HMCS, Vervain, a Corvette escorting the convoy. That was reckless, because the waters were too shallow to dive to safety".
Within minutes, U-1276 was sunk by an accompanying sloop, HMS Amethyst. All 49 crewmen perished.
Gavin and Pat have also found HMCS Vervain, within two miles of U-1276. "We don't know much about its crew but most were probably rescued", Gavin surmises.
In 1949 HMS Amethyst achieved fame for its desperate 104-mile dash to freedom down the Yangtze River under Chinese Communist fire. That adventure - and the ship itself - was recalled as a successful film in 1957. Ironically, damage done to the ship during filming caused it to be scrapped.
Timmy Carey of Fermoy sub-aqua club and Jim Teirney of undersea video company, 10barpics.com, have filmed the eerie wreck for posting on the web.
The men intend contacting the German navy and stress that the scene is being respected as a grave, with "absolutely nothing being removed. Relatives the sailors may wish to visit the area", says Gavin.