First Photographs inside WWI Submarine Wreck

[Baldrick62]

Published today, the first photos taken inside the wreck of the Australian submarine AE2, lost during the 1915 Dardanelles campaign. - http://www.news.com.au/national/anza...-1226976407329

[Naharaht]

That is interesting. I had never heard of the AE2. It is amazing that it is so well preserved. It does not sound as though there are any plans to raise her. Thank you for the link.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Thank you once again for adding to the knowledge banks of the Drome Balders.
It is great to find out more about an action which up until now was just a one liner in a book.
Rob.

[Captain Chum]

Very cool. Thanks for the enlightenment.

[Baldrick62]

It does not sound as though there are any plans to raise her.

Actually, there was a push to raise the wreck as it isn't a war grave. http://news.smh.com.au/national/gall...0428-290q.html

However, that proposal now seems to have been dropped. http://ae2.org.au/hmas-ae2/rediscovery/

[Jager]

Fascinating find there, Baldrick. Thanks for bring it to light.
Interesting how clean everything looks. I wonder what else is lying around those waters.
Karl

[Baldrick62]

I wonder what else is lying around those waters.

The Bosphorus/Sea of Marmara/Dardenelles has been a mercantile trading route for millenia. It's cold and dark, so even wooden artefacts could survive (Persian boat bridge anyone?), but strong currents are a major hazard to divers.

It seems that many of the wrecks from the March 1915 attempt to force the Dardenelles weren't raised for salvage. However, ...

'It was only during the dive briefing that it was revealed that the pre-dreadnought HMS Majestic had been systematically salvaged by both a German and an Italian company over a period of 12 years. The Majestic was no longer a wreck, just a pile of rubble and unwanted trash left by her salvors.

'... we chugged up the Dardanelles Straits towards the final resting place of HMS Irresistible, close to the narrows at Canakkale. We were privileged to have finally received permission to dive this wreck in some 60m of water, and there were assurances that it had not been salvaged.

'The Turkish battleship Messudiah was said to lie in calm, shallow water. Some later suggested that it was near a sewage outfall. It was another disappointment, nothing more than a few ribs poking out of the mud.'

http://www.divernet.com/Travel_Featu..._shambles.html

No mention of HMS Ocean or the French pre-dreadnought Bouvet, but Wiki offers this for battleship wrecks in the area:

HMS Irresistible

Struck a mine on March 18, 1915, while participating in the final attempt to force the Dardanelles straits.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: Very few
Location: In the Dardanelles straits, Turkey
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged and scavenged, with ship remains scattered.

HMS Ocean

Struck a mine and also hit by shore batteries March 18, 1915, while participating in the final attempt to force the Dardanelles straits.

Navy: Royal Navy
Location: In the Dardanelles straits, Turkey
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged and scavenged, with ship remains scattered.

Bouvet

Struck a mine and also hit by shore batteries March 18, 1915, while participating in the final attempt to force the Dardanelles straits.

Navy: Marine Nationale
Casualties: Over 600 men
Location: In the Dardanelles straits, Turkey
Condition: Rests at 70 meters, only her propellers were salvaged.

HMS Goliath

Torpedoed by Ottoman torpedo boat Muâvenet-i Millîye on May 13, 1915, while supporting the Battle of Gallipoli.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 570 men out of a crew of 700
Location: Near Cape Helles, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged and scavenged, with ship remains scattered. .

HMS Triumph

Torpedoed by U-21 on May 25, 1915, while supporting the Battle of Gallipoli.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 73 dead out of 700 men
Location: Near Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged and scavenged, with ship remains scattered.

HMS Majestic

Torpedoed by U-21 on May 27, 1915, while supporting the Battle of Gallipoli.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 49 men
Location: Near Cape Helles, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged and scavenged, with ship remains scattered.

Barbaros Hayreddin - previously SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm

Torpedoed by British submarine HMS E11 on August 8, 1915.

Navy: Ottoman Navy
Casualties: 253 men
Location: Dardanelles, Turkey

Masséna

Scuttled off the Gallipoli Peninsula on November 10, 1915 to form a breakwater.

Navy: Marine Nationale
Location: Off Sedd-al Bahr, near Cape Helles at the end of the Gallipoli Peninsular

[Jager]

I'm a bit surprised the waters are cold. I know it's a major transit for shipping for about as long as Man was using the seas for trade. Hence the wealth of the Eastern Roman Empire, even with the loss of Egypt and the rest south of Anatolia.
Thanks Karl

[Baldrick62]

I'm a bit surprised the waters are cold.

Outflow from the Black Sea.

The RN (and RAN) submariners did quite a lot of work in the Dardanelles area during WWI, with 3 VCs awarded for their exploits.

From 'World War 1' part 2 of 'Action In Submarines' By Arthrur Widder (1967)

'In December, 1914, Lt. Norman D. Holbrook attempted the first penetration. At the approaches to the Dardanelles Holbrook gave the order for his submarine, the B-11, to submerge, knowing that because of danger from patrol craft and shore batteries he would not be able to expose his periscope as he navigated into the Turkish strait. His objective was to pass completely through the 37 miles of the Dardanelles without surfacing. He had to do this entirely by dead reckoning in a passage which narrowed at one point to a width of only a mile, and in which the surge of currents was strong and variable. With stopwatch, compass, and chart, Holbrook directed his B-11 to the north.

'On December 12 Holbrook's calculations indicated that his submarine had passed through the Dardanelles and should be in the Sea of Marmara, with the Turkish capital and principal port of Constantinople (Istanbul) only a few hours of surface cruising ahead. Carefully Holbrook brought the B-11 up to periscope depth and scanned the horizon. On all sides there was nothing but open water. He gave the orders to bring his submarine to the surface.

'Approaching Constantinople, Holbrook observed the shipping which plied the waters near the port. Sailing craft, steamers, ferries, fishing boats — all passed before the glass eye of the B-11's periscope before Holbrook saw the target he wanted: the Turkish naval ship Messudiah , a large but aged guard ship.

'A single torpedo from the B-11 ended the Messudiah's forty-year career, and Turkey was shaken by the realization that its supposedly secure port had been penetrated by an enemy submarine.

'After torpedoing the Messudiah, the B-11 went aground on an uncharted shoal. Holbrook, unable to back the submarine off, decided that there was only one other way to take it out of its predicament — go forward under full power. Answering the drive of its propellers, the B-11 ground slowly ahead, but as it moved forward it also moved higher on the shoal, until it was fully exposed above the surface.

'Turkish shore batteries opened fire and their gunners groped for the B-11's range. In the submarine Holbrook and his men were grim and silent as their boat scraped forward with shells exploding around them.

'After minutes that seemed hours, the B-11 dragged itself over the shallows and into deep water, where it immediately submerged. Returning through the Dardanelles underwater, Holbrook made it safely back to his base in Egypt, where he was awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest decoration for heroism.

'Holbrook was not the only submarine captain to win the VC in Turkish waters. Five months after the B-11 penetrated the Dardanelles and sank the Messudiah, Lt. Martin E. D. Nasmith, the thirty-two-year-old Scottish commanding officer of the newer E-11, followed Holbrook's track and sank a troop transport on May 25, 1915, within sight of Constantinople, causing heavy loss of life among the six thousand troops aboard.

'The E-class submarines such as Nasmith's were far advanced over Holbrook's older B-11. Displacing 725 tons, they were capable of a surface speed of 15 knots and a submerged speed of 8 knots. Four torpedo tubes permitted quicker action against enemy ships.

'After sinking the troop transport, Nasmith continued to attack shipping in the Sea of Marmara, using his deck gun in most actions. However, as his presence was well known to the Turks, he found it increasingly difficult to approach suitable targets. His submerged speed was not great enough to overtake a modern ship, and when on the surface he could be seen in time for ships to speed out of range. Nasmith solved this problem by capturing a Turkish sailing vessel and lashing it securely to the E-11's side. More than one Turkish ship failed to notice until too late that what seemed to be a second mast on a sailing ship was in fact the periscope of a British submarine alongside.

'Nasmith sank ninety-six ships in ninety-six days and won the Victoria Cross. In his naval service after the war he reached the rank of admiral, and died at eight-two in 1965.

'Not all the British submarines which attempted the dangerous passage through the Dardanelles were as lucky as the B-11 and the E-11. The E-15, a sistership of Nasmith's submarine, ran aground in the passage and was unable to work itself off. Under continuous fire from Turkish shore batteries, the E-15's captain burned his code books and surrendered. The Turks were unable to make use of his submarine, though. In a daring foray, two British high-speed steam launches dashed upstream into the Dardanelles, zigzagging to dodge shellfire all the way, and destroyed it with their own guns.

'Still another VC-winning submarine captain was Lt. E. C. Boyle who took his submarine, the E-14, into Constantinople harbor and sank a ship loaded with guns and troops destined for the Turkish defenses at Gallipoli. Boyle disrupted Turkish supply routes in the semi-desert land along the western shore of the Sea of Marmara by surfacing and shelling camel caravans.

'All told, thirteen British submarines penetrated the Dardanelles and operated in the Sea of Marmara. Of these, eight were captured or destroyed. The passage was made twenty-seven times, and the submarines sank 148 sailing craft, 44 steamers, 11 transports, 5 gunboats, 1 destroyer and 1 battleship.'

http://www.ourdecline.com/smartboard...subs/chap6.htm

And to bring this story back to an Australian theme again:

'On 24 August 1915, amid a wave of anti-German feeling related to the First World War, the name of the New South Wales Eastern Riverina town of Germanton was changed to Holbrook to honour the recent VC recipient. He subsequently visited the town on three occasions. His widow, Mrs. Gundula Holbrook, donated his medal to the Council of the Shire of Holbrook in 1982. In 1995 she made a substantial donation towards the establishment of a submariners' memorial in the town, and in 1997 visited the town to unveil it. A bronze statue of Holbrook stands in Germanton Park, Holbrook.

'Holbrook's medal was donated to the Council of the Shire of Holbrook, New South Wales in 1982. It subsequently passed to Greater Hume Shire Council upon the amalgamation of several Riverina shires in May 2004. Holbrook’s medal group, including his Victoria Cross, went on display at the Australian War Memorial on 11 December 2009.'



Also maintaining Holbrook's links with the Silent Service, though a bit bizarre to see as you drive through a very land-locked Australian town:

[Jager]

Dangerous work indeed, in such restricted waters
Karl

[Guntruck]

Interesting article, thanks Balders. didn't realise there was any submarine activity in the Dardanelles, as it is one element of the campaingn that doesn't often get a mention.

[Biggles downunder]

You can read all about it here. http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/5environ...rines/ae2.html

Or you can buy the book here: http://www.amazon.com/Stokers-Submar.../dp/073226703X