Hms/m C34 [possibly]: North Sea

HU52NE 8001 5830 2792

N60 1.95 W0 57.2167

NLO: Fair Isle [name centred HZ 21 72]

Bard Head [name: HU 513 359]

Bressay [name centred HU 50 40]

Bressay Sound [name centred HU 485 415]

Mousa [name centred HU 460 240].

For possible alternative location, see HU53SE 8001.

(Location cited as N59 51 W1 05).

G Ridley 1992.

Quality of fix = EDM

Evidence = Echo sounder

Horizontal Datum = OGB

General water depth = 112

Orientation of keel/wreck = 095/275

Circumstances of Loss Details

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The British submarine C34 was torpedoed and sunk by German Submarine U52.

Report by Naval Historical Branch.

Surveying Details

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5 September 1983. The German official history indicates that C34 was first sighted on the surface at 59 51 00N, 001 05 00W, by U52, and sunk about an hour later.

Report by Naval Historical Branch.

18 December 1985. The wreck was examined on 28 June 1985 at 60 01 57N, 000 57 13W or decca [n scot] red a 7.62, green f 31.96, purple d 65.70. The least echosounder depth was 101 in a general depth of 112 metres. No scouring was observed. The side scan sonar indicated a height of 9.6 metres, length of 65 metres (213 feet) and beam of 10 metres (32 feet). The wreck is lying with its keel orientated 095/275 degrees.

Report by Naval Party.

Hydrographic Office, 1995.

(Classified as Submarine: date of loss cited as 17 July 1917). HMS [HMS/M] C34: this vessel was torpedoed by U-52 East of Fair Isle.

Registration: London. 280 tons [unspecified]. Length: 40m. Beam: 5m.

(Location of loss cited as N59 51.0 W0 5.0).

I G Whittaker 1998.

Length: 143ft (55.2m)

Beam: 13ft 6ins (6.9m)

Displacement: 290/321 tons

Propulsion: petrol engines: one screw: 600/200hp; 13-14/8-10 kts

Torpedo tubes: 2 x 18 ins (457mm) - bow

Complement: 16

This submarine was a unit of the later variant of the C class, with a larger conning tower. She was built at Chatham Dockyard in 1910 and sunk by U52 off Shetland in 1917. These small and petrol-engined boats were outdated by the later stages of the First World War.

The location of the sinking has been the subject of considerable uncertainty. Larn and Larn note that the boat was on patrol in the Fair Isle area and cite an indeterminate location at N59 30 W5, while Whittaker places the loss 'east of fair Isle'. The recorded location of the wreck identified as C34 lies considerably further N, 6.5nm (12 km) ENE of Mousa [name: HU 460 240] and 5.5nm (10.2 km) SE of Bard Head [name: HU 516 357], the southern tip of Bressay. It is charted (Wk) at a depth of 101m on a seabed of fine sand and shell which slopes gradually towards the SE.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 17 December 2002.

H M Le Fleming 1961; R and B Larn 1998; Whittaker 1998; [Jane] 2002.

HO chart no. 1119 (1982, revised 1993).

Plans and photographs of this vessel are held in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

(For online catalogue of negatives, see www.nmm.ac.uk/historicphotographs).

Information from Ms G Fabri (NMM), 7 November 2003.