Divers have described their discovery of a WWI German U-boat that historians believe was destroyed in 1919.
All 27 crew on board the UC42 died when the submarine sank at the entrance to Cork Harbour on 10 September 1917.
It had been laying mines when an explosion was heard.
A team of five amateur divers from Cork discovered the submarine in good condition in 27m of water just off Roches Point on 6 November after a 12-month search.
Diver Ian Kelleher said they were very surprised and ecstatic to find it with little obvious explosive damage.
Positive identification was possible when they found its number stamped on a propeller.
Mr Kelleher, a chemistry student, said that two days before Christmas, the dive team laid a plaque of remembrance near the propellers as a memorial to the 27 German submariners who died.
They plan to return to the site over the coming weeks and continue their research into the submarine and its crew, including trying to contact relatives of the crew.
01-26-2011, 08:17
PanzerJaeger
Re: Cork divers discover WWI U-boat
The discrepancy in dates is very interesting. Obviously the fog of war can make establishing exact dates for losses difficult, but conceivably a loss during peace time would be pretty well documented - even during the chaos of the revolution. I wonder why historians thought it was lost in 1919?
01-26-2011, 22:18
Louis VI the Fat
Re: Cork divers discover WWI U-boat
Quote:
Originally Posted by PanzerJaeger
The discrepancy in dates is very interesting. Obviously the fog of war can make establishing exact dates for losses difficult, but conceivably a loss during peace time would be pretty well documented - even during the chaos of the revolution. I wonder why historians thought it was lost in 1919?
I was a bit puzzled by '1919' too. Then I decided it was probably just a typo. It has to be 1917.
01-26-2011, 22:49
gaelic cowboy
Re: Cork divers discover WWI U-boat
I think the discrepency came from a belief that the Royal Navy did some demolition work in the bay in 1919 and it was thought the sub had been dealt with at the time. The southern maritime area of Ireland is pretty dangerous and it is concievable the British sank the wrong wreck in 1919.
Quote:
copy pasted from irish times Prior to its loss in 1917 the UC42 sank 13 vessels and disabled a warship of 1,210 tonnes displacement.
In 1918 the submarine was dived by Haulbowline and American divers in an effort to disarm the mines and torpedoes still aboard. It was widely believed that in July 1919 divers using explosives from HMS Vernon had destroyed the submarine.
FOR almost a century, she was a ghostly and forgotten outline on the muddy seabed off our coast.
Now, a German U-boat which exploded in 1917 and became a deep-sea tomb for her 27-man crew has been found by a team of amateur divers.
They revealed the find yesterday, more than two months are stumbling across the wreck during a search for the U-boat.
Military historians have hailed the identification of UC-42 off Cork harbour as one of the most notable World War One discoveries in recent years.
The submarine was believed to be laying mines and taking part in attacks on British vessels when it exploded. The area saw intense maritime activity during the war -- including the sinking of the liner Lusitania with the loss of 1,200 civilian lives.
Irish divers and historians are now to liaise with the German Embassy in a bid to trace surviving relatives of the deceased. It is then hoped to stage a special remembrance ceremony in Cork.
No examination of the hull interior has been undertaken as yet but it is believed that the remains of the crew -- many of whom were in their late teens -- are still located within UC-42.
The amateur divers made the remarkable discovery in 28 metres of water off Roche's Point in Cork harbour on November 6 last.
Dive leader Ian Kelleher told the Irish Independent they had been examining the area for more than a year for traces of the submarine -- which naval historians believe exploded and sank on September 10, 1917.
The team of five divers -- Ian Kelleher; Niall O'Regan; Philip Johnston; Eoin McGarry and Timmy Carey -- had been searching for the wreck for a year when they "just struck lucky".
"Various people have looked for the wreck over the years with no success and we had been searching ourselves for 12 months or so," Mr Kelleher said.
"Then, myself and Niall were out about two miles off Roche's Point at the beginning of November and we just came upon the wreck. We noticed an unusual outline below us and we went down to check it out, and there she was," he said.
Fellow diver Philip Johnson said he hoped people would give UC-42 the respect it deserved as a war monument.
In a gesture of remembrance, the divers laid a special plaque and wreath at the site over Christmas.
Divers who discovered a first World War German U-boat which was lost off the Cork coast in 1917 resulting in the death of all 27 crew members have asked that the maritime grave not be interfered with.
The UC42 was launched in September 1916 and was lost on September 10th the following year off Cobh, or Queenstown as it was known, in Cork after one of her own mines exploded, damaging the stern and killing all 27 crew. The vessel had been laying mines in the harbour.
On November 2nd, 1917, divers from the Haulbowline dockyard positively identified the U-boat as UC42, noting the stern damage to the submarine and the presence of the bodies of some of the German submariners.
Cork Institute of Technology chemistry student and amateur diver, Ian Kelleher, said he was intrigued by the story of a U-boat lost at his own “back door”. He and his fellow diver Niall O’Regan finally discovered the U-boat in 27 metres of water just off Roches Point in Cork on November 6th last after several years of searching for the vessel.
The divers found a 38-metre submarine in good condition with the inner pressure hull intact. It was positively identified by a stamp on the bottom of the propeller.
Mr Kelleher said the locating of the U-boat was the end of a “major adventure”. He urged members of the diving community to be respectful of the grave site.
“I do believe it will be a magnet for divers. But it is a grave. We have treated it as such, we have made a plaque for the crew. Anyone who dives it we would urge them to look but to not touch and to respect it as such.”
The dive team laid a plaque near the submarine’s propellers to act as a memorial to the submariners entombed in UC42. The plaque was donated by John O’Mahony of Complete Signs.
Prior to its loss in 1917 the UC42 sank 13 vessels and disabled a warship of 1,210 tonnes displacement.
In 1918 the submarine was dived by Haulbowline and American divers in an effort to disarm the mines and torpedoes still aboard. It was widely believed that in July 1919 divers using explosives from HMS Vernon had destroyed the submarine.
Many divers have since searched for the remains of UC42 around Cork Harbour with no luck, until the recent dive by Mr Kelleher and Mr O’Regan.
A local team of five divers, including the two, had spent several years carrying out a methodical search of the greater harbour area determined to find the remains of the submarine. Their labours finally paid dividends when Mr Kelleher and Mr O’Regan identified the submarine. The dive team consisted of Mr Kelleher, Mr O’Regan, Philip Johnston, Eoin McGarry and Timmy Carey.
Over the past few weeks the divers have videoed and photographed the submarine and taken various measurements to record the wreck’s condition.
01-27-2011, 16:21
Strike For The South
Re: Cork divers discover WWI U-boat
It always amazes me how things like this can get lost
It's a bloody sub
01-27-2011, 20:35
gaelic cowboy
Re: Cork divers discover WWI U-boat
Quote:
Originally Posted by Strike For The South
It always amazes me how things like this can get lost
It's a bloody sub
Well to be fair it's a big ocean and it was two miles offshore Strike.
plus the file may have got misplaced in Dublin or burned cos 1919 was the start of the War of Independence after all.
01-27-2011, 21:10
PanzerJaeger
Re: Cork divers discover WWI U-boat
Ok, so they knew it was sunk in 1917 but mistakenly believed it was later completely destroyed by the British to remove the danger of the live torpedoes. That makes more sense. :bow:
