Archive images of D1 leading the line
HMS D1 : submarine
The forgotten
Steve Mortimer employed his persuasive skills to drag his team away from a battleship to help identify a mystery sub . Only now can the story be told of what they found
“
You want us to dive a cigar tube ?” A U-boat historian had helped our team before , and now he was asking a favour in return . Not everyone was happy . I was suggesting we take a day off from diving the site of the First World War battleship HMS Formidable , after we had been given a licence to dive that Controlled Wreck by the Ministry of Defence .
The historian – Michael Lowrey , who lives in America – was writing a book on First World War U-boat losses and had questions needing answers . A wreck off Dartmouth had been thought to be the minelaying submarine , UC-49 , but Michael suspected that lay elsewhere . Was this a chance to identify one of the few remaining missing U-boats ? Not a diver himself , Michael wanted our help . But how ?
To identify submarine wrecks , you need to answer some fundamental questions .
Nav light
How many torpedo tubes at the bow and stern ? Any mine chutes ? Deck guns ? Hatches open or closed ? Hydroplanes ? What ’ s the stern configuration ? You get the idea . We divvied up the jobs and set off on Wey Chieftain IV , in the safe hands of skipper Richard Bright-Paul . Arriving on site , we shot the wreck in 50 metres depth , and waited for slack . Finally , in we went .
Topside it was glorious summer , but underwater visibility was two metres at best , with no ambient light on the wreck . Our shot was on the stern , where an old fishing net served notice that slow and steady would be the order of the day . But so far , so good – it was a submarine .
Collecting evidence
Soon the whole site came alive with activity . One pair of divers checked for deck guns and mine chutes , but found
The D1 ’ s Telegraph nothing . Had any guns dropped off and been buried in the mud ? Another pair scrubbed the propellers . Why ? Because sometimes the submarine ’ s number and other detail is recorded there on German boats from the First World War . Not this time though , and the immediate viz dropped to zero , so extra care was required with that lost net . Still , it had been worth a try . Jacob padded around the whole wreck , recording everything with his GoPro . Kieran investigated the conning tower , which turned out to be non-ferrous , with a bridge telegraph and navigation light in place . This wreck has been dived since the 1980s , albeit infrequently , and it was great to see it all still there . Cameras flashed all around . Then , after 30 minutes , we began our ascent .
The wreck site is close to Dartmouth , a major sailing hotspot . While we decompressed , skipper Richard had his work
PHOTO : KIERAN HATTON
PHOTO : KIERAN HATTON
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