If you wanted to look at some old army fighting vehicles and some unusual earth moving equipment you would not normally expect to take your diving equipment with you. This however is just what’s required if you want to see these particular vehicles as they are located on the seabed 8 miles offshore from the south coast of England. The cargo of a Tank landing craft, (LCT 2428), there are two tanks, Centaurs CS Mk IV, (Close Support Mark 4’s), fitted with a 95 mm howitzer gun and two armoured bulldozers with enclosed cabs. These vehicles, together with a field gun and a jeep were lost when the ship carrying them capsized during bad weather on June 5, 1944. This site was first introduced to me by club member Dave A, in August 2008, unfortunately the visibility was poor and the dive had to be aborted. I have since learnt that the viz is often poor in this area. I had booked a club dive on this site last year but poor weather prevented the dive from going ahead. I was fortunate to received strong support from 9 club members when this year’s dates became available. Sickness and injury had thinned our ranks as only 5 of us climbed aboard the Rib breasting the waves at Bracklesham Bay at the end of July. It was a sunny morning and with a calm sea, Christina, Steve, Rob, Reuben and I held on tight to begin our sea journey to this days diving. When our dive site was reached, we found a larger boat in the vicinity hosting a fishing party but they were some distance from us so it was declared safe to dive.  Unfortunately Steve suffered some equipment problems and was unable to dive, so Reuben and Christina dived together and so did Rob and I. At first the water appeared dark but as our eyes became accustomed to the lower light level at 24 m, we reached the bottom of the shot and found it draped across and under an upturned bulldozer.Image courtesy of Martin Davies - this image is copyrighted and only reproduced with permission from Martin Davies. http://www.southseasubaqua.org.uk Rob and I pulled the shot free and then began examining the vehicles we had come to see. They were located in a square 50 by 60 metres so it was possible to swim from one to another just by heading towards a darker outline in the distance. Rob and I passed Reuben and Christina on an opposite journey to our own direction of travel. We saw three of the four main vehicles, (two tanks and two bulldozers) as well as the remains of the jeep and about a dozen shell cases approximately thirty inches long on the seabed. On the tanks and bulldozers the drive train of steel wheels and caterpillar tracks could easily been seen, as well as the distinctive square turrets with their short large calibre barrels on the tanks. All too soon it was time to surface to rejoin the other dives and begin the journey back to shore and the surface interval before our next dive. Unfortunately Steve dropped his mask under the Rib when we were disembarking and as he had left his spare at home, there could be no further diving for him. Our time on shore passed pleasantly with lunch and preparations, (swopping cylinders), for our afternoon dive. This was on the Phoenix Unit/ Mulberry Harbour, another casualty of WW2, which broke its back prior to its intended voyage to Normandy in June 1944. As it is now a broken mass of concrete with rusting steel reinforcing rods protruding from it, I warned our divers of their corrosion and sharpness and of the potential of piercing a dive suit. The weather had impossibly improved on the excellent conditions of the morning and we had another pleasant journey before following the permanent anchor chain to the 12 m seabed. We followed the lines between the three closely situated features, the Mulberry, the infantry landing craft and the RAF rescue float known as a Cuckoo. As soon as we reached the Mulberry, the first thing I noticed was Rob checking my warning that the protruding steel rods were razor sharp and would cut hands/bodies/drysuits, I should have saved my breath! However a safe and pleasant dive ensued with all returning safely to the rib. There were other dive boats about so it was important to return to the correct one and explained how it was so busy underwater. We returned to shore where as the tide was rapidly receding, we had a long walk in full kit to reach our beach disembarkation point. We packed away our dive equipment for the journey home. A passer-by on the beach had found Steve’s mask and it made its way back to him via another diver! An easy journey home for Reuben and I through the new tunnel at Hindhead on the A3 meant I could shower and relax before work the following day. An excellent day spent in the sunshine at the coast going diving. Heaven !! BSAC article about this dive... http://www.bsac.com/news.asp?section=56§ionTitle=News&month=11&year=2008&itemid=3612 |
Scapa Flow 2007 of Lisa Shafe BSAC
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Tanks & Bulldozers Bracklesham Bayposted 31 Oct 2011 06:23 by David Allen [ updated 3 Nov 2011 08:16 ] |