A team of five amateur divers have discovered the wreckage of a UC-42 submarine which sank while laying mines during the First World War off the Cork coast.
The remains were located in 80 feet of water just off Roches Point on November 6 last.The U-boat measured about 115 feet long and was found in good condition.
All 27 crew on board the vessel died when the submarine sank. It is thought that divers using explosives from the HMS Vernon torpedo school destroyed the vessel in July 1919.
Ian Kelleher, who was part of the team who made the recent discovery described the search as a “religion” for diving enthusiasts.
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"It was a religion in diving terms around here that there was a U-boat missing out there. The fact that it had never been found made it more of a mystery, and we believed that by finding it that maybe we could tell the story of what happened it and its crew, so we set out many years ago actually to look for it. We got lucky and we found it," he told the Irish Examiner.
Kelleher, who is a chemistry student at Cork Institute of Technology said the original dive team had laid a plaque of remembrance for those killed near the propellers.
"Once it sank in September 1917, the British Admiralty dived to confirm that it was there. We believed that if any damage had been done to it by the British, there would still be remains of it there. We just wanted to find it and see what was left of it. What we found, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. It was an intact submarine lying on the bottom and not the scattered remains we had believed we would find down there," he said.
The chemistry student said the team planned to attempt to contact the relatives of the crew and urged divers to respect the site as a grave
"There aren’t very many U-boats in Ireland that are within the reach of ordinary divers. This is, possibly, within the reach of most divers out there. I do believe it will be a magnet for divers. I would like to stress that it is a grave, however. We have treated it as such and we have laid a plaque there and anybody that dives it we would ask to look but not touch," he said.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Redspinner | Jan 10, 2012, 03:52 PM EST
Merefalow - the submarine sank in 1917. That's 95 years ago. There will be absolutely no traces of any of the soldiers who were on board when it sank. Possibly some pieces of clothing, boots etc. but that will be all. So there will be no skeletons remaining at this time.
warlocks | Jan 10, 2012, 02:41 AM EST
yes i agree the Submarine Site should be Respected as Grave site the German Sailors were someones Father and Sons. let them Rest in peace.Besides its Dangerous. i bet there is still Live Ordance on board. Play it safe look & Take Pictures but don't touch anything.
merefalow | Jan 09, 2012, 01:32 PM EST
awesome,so there are still dead german sailors inside,they must still have relatives so will they be possibly returned to germany,is it possible or are sunken ships just left alone and designated as a war grave?if they brought the mary rose up why cant they bring this up ,its arguably just as interesting historically.could any explosives left on board still be potentionally active?can you get into it if you are a diver?gutsy if you do with all those skelingtons whoooo.
seanskelligs | Jan 09, 2012, 12:03 PM EST
This is old news-the boat was discovered nearly two years ago-I dived on it last March!