100 Best Wrecks 1-10 - DIVERNET from Diver Magazine

100
BEST
WRECK
DIVES
This is it - the final countdown. On this page you'll find nine of the Top Ten Great British Wrecks. Then, if you haven't already worked it out, click here to find out what Kendall McDonald and Diver consider to be the best wreck you can dive!

10 CUBA
11,420-ton French liner, built Newcastle 1923, taken as war prize by Royal Navy, used as troopship. 476ft x 62ft. 10,300hp turbine engines. Cargo: 223 crew, 29 gunners, 10 Army staff and three signallers. Le Havre to Southampton. Position: 50 36.00N; 00 58.58W. Depth: 32m.
Sunk: 6 April, 1945, when in convoy VWP 16, by a single torpedo from U-1195 (Kapitanleutnant Ernst Cordes, who had sunk the James Eagan Layne a few days earlier. Cordes killed with 30 of his crew when depth charged by destroyer escort).
Diving: Despite some salvage and dispersal, much wreckage stands upright 14m proud. Piles of steel plates and girders on very large site. Most of the 200 portholes are among the tangle. Mud and sand seabed; viz can be poor. Two-metre scour on north-east side.
Launch: Bembridge.

9 ASSOCIATION
1459-ton 90-gun man o' war, built Portsmouth, 1697. 165ft x 45ft. Flagship of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell. Cargo: A vast treasure in chests of gold and silver coins and plate put on board in Gibraltar by British merchants trading in Spain and Portugal. More chests contained government funds for war with France, Sir Cloudesley's own wealth and many regimental funds and silverware. Estimated value today: Ł5 million. Position: 49 51.73N; 06 24.50W. Depth: 5-43m.
Sunk: 22 October, 1707, by navigation error when she ran into the Scilly rocks in the dark. Sir Cloudesley and crew of 650 lost. More than 1000 lost from other ships following flagship.
Diving: Is on the Gilstone Ledges, but only with permission of salvor-in-possession Jim Heslin of the Isles of Scilly Underwater Centre. 30,000 coins recovered since relocation of wreck by sport divers in 1967. Nearly 1000 coins found each year, although many are very worn. Most discovered in crud near iron cannon among boulders in gullies, which can plunge to more than 40m. Stern has yet to be found. Beware rough water and big swells on Gilstone.
Launch: St Mary's, Isles of Scilly.

8 HMS Formidable
15,000-ton battleship, built Portsmouth 1898. 430ft x 75ft. 15,000hp triple-expansion engines. Armed: four 12in, twelve 6in, sixteen 12-pounder and six 3-pounder guns, four torpedo tubes. Position: 50 13.14N; 03 03.99W. Depth: 60m.
Sunk: 1 January, 1915, by two torpedoes from U-24 (Oberleutnant Rudolf Schneider) while on gunnery exercises off Portland Bill. 547 of 780 crew lost.
Diving: Completely upside-down, 40m proud. One propeller has been removed in unauthorised salvage. Another has been blown off, but is nearby and still attached to shaft. Guns can still be seen in casemates (armoured enclosures) crushed into seabed. Big break in hull just forward of the bridge almost cutting wreck in half. War grave - do not enter.
Launch: Dartmouth; Brixham.

7 MAINE
3616-ton cargo steamer, built 1905. 375ft x 46ft. 3600hp triple-expansion engine. Armed: 4.7in gun on stern. Cargo: 500 tons chalk, 50 tons general, London for Philadelphia. Position: 50 12.75N; 03 50.88W. Depth: 37m.
Sunk: 23 March, 1917, by torpedo from bow tube of UC-17 (Oberleutnant Ralph Wenninger) striking port side level with No 2 hold. Despite tow, sank one mile from Bolt Head.
Diving: Upright on even keel on shingle. 15m proud. Most popular dive in Devon. Remains of superstructure to starboard. Most broken on port side near bow. Bronze propeller and iron spare salvaged by Torbay BSAC, which bought wreck for Ł100 in 1962. Gun gone, bell recovered 1987. Recent deterioration of counterstern.
Launch: Hope Cove; Salcombe.

6 KOLN
5531-ton German light cruiser, built Hamburg 1916. 510ft x 46ft. (Replacement for earlier Köln, sunk August 1914). 48,708hp steam turbines. Armed: eight 5.9in guns in turrets, two 3.4in guns, four torpedo tubes. Position: 58 53.53N; 03 08.45 W. Depth: 35m.
Sunk: 21 June, 1919, one of 52 warships of the German Imperial Navy High Seas Fleet successfully scuttled by their crews in Scapa Flow (45 later raised).
Diving: Lying on starboard side, mostly intact. Propellers and one anchor lifted. Some explosive salvage in engine room near stern. Fire control tower is ahead of bridge. Top of one portside gun in turret nearby is highest point at 20m. Stern gun in good condition and turret points dead astern. Some entry holes at bow and stern need great care. Beware disturbing internal silt.
Launch: Houton Bay; Stromness; Burray.

5 RONDO
2363-ton British standard ship, built as War Wonder in Florida, 1918, taken over by US Government and renamed Lithopolis (1918), renamed Laurie (1930), then Rondo (1934). 264ft x 42ft. 1200hp triple-expansion engines. Cargo: In ballast, Glasgow for Oslo. Position: 56 32.27N; 05 54.67W. Depth: 9m-53m.
Sunk: 25 January, 1935, after drifting in Sound of Mull during a blizzard and striking islet of Dearg Sgeir. Attempts to pull her off all failed. Salvage crews started to strip her. Several weeks later slipped off reef bow first.
Diving: Standing almost upright on bow, Rondo lies vertically down cliff-like side of reef. Stern at 9m encrusted with plumose anemones. Mainmast base at 25m. Mast lies down centre of wreck. Bow section at 38m. Forward holds silted up. Beware nitrogen narcosis in steep descent down wreck.
Launch: Oban; Lochaline; Tobermory.

4 BREDA
6941-ton single-funnel Dutch steamer, built in Holland,1921. 418ft x 58ft. Armed: 4.7in on stern. Cargo: 3000 tons cement, 175 tons tobacco and cigarettes, three Hawker biplanes, 30 De Havilland Tiger Moths, spare parts for the aircraft, Army lorries and spares, NAAFI crockery, copper ingots, rubber-soled sandals, 10 horses and nine dogs, London for Bombay. Position: 56 28.55N; 05 25.00W. Depth: 30m.
Sunk: 23 December, 1940, by near-misses from German Heinkel 111 bomber. Bombs broke piping in engine room and ship flooded. Taken in tow and beached in Ardmucknish Bay. Little salvage before Breda slipped into deep water.
Diving: Upright, even keel. Gun removed. Bronze propeller and copper salvaged. Explosives used in raising condensers. Sinking into soft seabed. Bow in 24m. Five holds silted, but some cargo can be seen - aircraft in No 1; sandals in No 2; aircraft engines in No 3; cigarette tins in No 4; solid bags of cement in No 5.
Launch: Oban; Ledaig.

3 MOLDAVIA
9505-ton P&O liner, built Greenock 1903. Commandeered by government as armed merchant cruiser 1915. 520ft x 58ft. 340hp triple-expansion engines. Armed: Eight 6in guns. Cargo: 900 US troops, Halifax, Nova Scotia, for London. Position: 50 23.13N; 00 28.72W. Depth: 45m.
Sunk: 23 May, 1918, by one torpedo from UB-57 (Oberleutnant Johann Lohs). 57 US soldiers killed.
Diving: On port side, least depth 28m at stern. Two guns there point surfacewards. Much decking in place at stern on vertical drop to sand and shingle. Other guns amidships in wreckage where torpedo struck. More damage forward. Bow intact. Many of 1000 portholes still in place. Propellers and condensers salvaged. Viz very good. Beware depth - divers have been killed on this wreck.
Launch: Littlehampton.

2 KRONPRINZ WILHELM
25,388-ton German battleship, built Kiel, 1914. 575ft x 97ft. 46,200hp turbines. Armed: ten 12in, fourteen 5.9in, two 3.45in guns, five torpedo tubes. Position: 58 53. 65N; 03 09.77W. Depth: 38m.
Sunk: 21 June, 1919, in Scapa Flow scuttle of German fleet. Seacocks and valves opened, then smashed. Turned turtle three hours after scuttle order given.
Diving: Upside-down, least depth to top of hull 12m, but port side clear of silty bottom. Explored via main deck below vessel. Huge guns. Holes made in hull at engine room, boiler room and torpedo rooms during salvage. Massive warship needs several dives to explore. They don't come much bigger.
Launch: Stromness; Scapa; Burray.

Appeared in DIVER - January 2000.