I’ll use the words of Irish Technical Diver, Stewart Andrews for this one: –
As it turned out, this ‘dark’ and unsettled (deep) season came to a thrilling end with some proper exploration off Donegal. The very best discovery was left until the last dive. A big thanks to “Rosguill” skipper Michael McVeigh and trip leader Rez Soheil with some advice from the deep exploration guru, Barry McGill.
There are only four WWI U-Boats (operational) sunk off the north coast of Ireland and one is the very large, popular and photogenic U89 in 61 metres, complete with two deck guns. There are pictures elsewhere on this FB page. [We are looking steadily through the 116 U Boats sunk under ‘Operation Deadlight’ after WWII]. U110 sunk the luxurious British liner RMS Amazon and has yet to be found as has U45 {Update – U45 was found by Rosguill in 2017} which was sunk by HMS submarine D7 (- another great story). That leaves UB124 – one of the Type UBIII coastal torpedo attack boats which was physical smaller than the others and, having taken over from UB64, finished the attack on Justicia. At over 32,000 tons, Justicia was the largest ship sunk by U Boat in WWI. Having sunk Justicia, she herself was destroyed by depth charges on 20 July 1918. This was the only ship she ever sunk. A very exciting dive indeed! I hope to talk more about this at TekDive15 in Antwerp in November – in the meantime, here are just two images. The conning tower has been separated from the wreck as a result of the depth charges. The other image shows the single stern torpedo tube.
The Steam Ship Rockpool, was a 4.5k ton cargo ship from WW1 era owned by Pool Shipping of West Hartlepool. She was sunk by U 94 in 1918 off the coast of Mayo. Lying in over 140m the visibility is stunning as can be seen in this 6 minute video – https://vimeo.com/584077652
The great Justicia bow – one of the most iconic shipwreck photos in the world has, over the winter of 2019/2020 suffered a dramatic loss of integrity as the pair of photos below show. A large section of plating on the upper starboard side is peeling away and the anchor is lowering to the seabed. Somewhat sad but inevitable with the passage of time.
Veni, vidi, vici – well more like steamed, pinged, dived – The FV Thomas Hankins – https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/107.html – a Fleetwood steam trawler sunk by U 33 in November 1939 – in really nice condition. Nice find and nice dive in 99m.
The bow of the fishing trawler Thomas Hankins, broken off by one of the shells from U33
Unusual to see any images of the propellers on the Justicia, but the stern is also well worth a look almost as much as the bow
Another nice shot of the Justicia’s huge 3 bladed propellerThe service/fireman’s tunnel of the Justicia – just behind the bridge
Couple of photos with super visibility of one of only 2 of Operation Deadlight’s Type XXI Electro U-boats. This particular U-boat lies in 67m around 3 miles north east of the Empire Heritage.
Great find – only 1 other Type XXIII diveable in the world.
Photographs courtesy of Stewart Andrews.
Type XXIII coastal defence U-boat intact and in very good condition. Lying on Starboard side showing scuttling charge damage forward of conning tower and on conning tower on port side. Single screw with aft rudder. 2 forward torpedo tubes with rectangular outer hatches closed.
Streamlined bow lying completely on her side, with Yvonne at the forward port hydroplane.
Broken open by internal explosion – showing a large battery and the (only) two inner torpedo tube doors.
Periscope and upper Conning tower.
Propellor, rudder and keel in a very streamline design. The port hydroplane is on the left.
I’ll use the words of Irish Technical Diver, Stewart Andrews for this one: –
