Dozens of U Boats found

My brain is a bit fuzzy on this, but didn't the Germans scuttle their own ships that were interned following WWI???
 
yea i reckon they've all have been sunk by force, the channel must have more ship wrecks than fish!
 
The overwhelming majority are WWI German subs (the article said a few English boats are there, too). These boats may have been victims of a mine barrage or two in the English Channel, and possibly some air patrols as well, besides attacks by antisubmarine vessels. If treated properly during exploration, and thoroughly documented, they will be a treasure trove of information. That war will see the 100-year anniversary of its beginning next year. The boats are more or less contemporaries of the Titanic. AFAIK there is no preserved Germany WWI U-boat anywhere, is there?

What was scuttled by the Germans in or near Scapa Flow consisted of the entire High Seas Fleet, didn't it? I know there were some subs, but not many.
 
aeronca1 said:
My brain is a bit fuzzy on this, but didn't the Germans scuttle their own ships that were interned following WWI???
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That's correct. The German High Seas Fleet was confined in Scapa Flow in the Shetlands at the end of WWI. Rather than risk letting the fleet to be taken over by the ally nations, a command was sent out by Rear-Admiral von Reuter to open the seacocks and flood valves of all the ships at the same time. Some 50 odd of the 70 ships sank before anything could be done by the skeleton Royal Navy guards. Only a handful of German sailor died. It takes time for ships to sink and they were not going to hang about!

An odd side effect of the scuttling is that the remaining wrecks are a source of low radiation level steel for special instruments, having been under 45 metres of water before contamination with radiation from the atmospheric atomic testing carried out since WWII could affect it.
 
the Duxford Midget sub is an XE-Class, X51 'Stickleback' which was British then given to the Swedish and called 'Spiggen' if i recall.... but my minds fuzzy on RN or former RN kit...
 
Skyhawk_310R said:
Yes they did, but the balance of them were scuttled as they entered Scapa Flow, the major Royal Navy port of call.

Ken
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the very same Scapa Flow where Lord Kitcheners ship struck a mine and sunk (i know this as my Great Great Grandfather was one of the Hands lost, have his record somewhere... as well as a diary from the Trenches with my other Great Great Grandfather...)
 
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