Archaeology Notes

Event ID 830635

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/830635

NK10SW 8002 unlocated

NLO: Aberdeen [name: NJ 95 05]

Arbroath [name: NO 643 405].

Formerly entered as NJ90NE 8142 (unlocated).

For previously-equated wreck at NP 63 42 [N56 34.0 W0 58.0], see NP64SW 8001.

(Classified as submarine: date of loss cited as 23 June 1915). U-40: this vessel was torpedoed and sunk off Aberdeen by HM Submarine C24 (with Taranaki as Q-ship). Or 5635/0102.

Registration: German. 878 tons displacement. Length: 66m. Beam: 6m.

(Location of loss cited as N57 8.0 W1 50.0).

I G Whittaker 1998.

Length: 212ft 4ins (64.7m)

Beam: 20ft 9ins (6.3m)

Displacement: 685/844-878 tons

Propulsion: diesel engines; two propellers; 1850/1200 hp; 16.4/7.9 kts

Armament: 4 x 19.7in (500mm) torpedo tubes (2 bow, 2 stern); 1 or 2 3.4 or 4.1in (86 or 125mm) guns according to variations within class

Complement: 32/39

This submarine was a unit of the eleven-strong U-31 class, and was built by Germaniawerft at Kiel. She was completed in 1915 and sunk [presumably torpedoed] in the same year by HMS/M C24 off Aberdeen.

This class is significant as the first class of German submarine to be fitted with diesels. Guns of increased calibre were fitted to some units of the class [not individually noted] to reduce the expenditure of torpedoes. Net-cutters were fitted as well as jumping-wires.

[Formerly entered as NJ90NE 8142 (unlocated)]. The map sheet assigned to this record is entirely arbitrary. Whittaker suggests alternative locations of loss 'off Aberdeen' and 'off Arbroath'.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 5 February 2002.

H M Le Fleming 1961; [Jane] 2001.

[Re-entered as NK10SW 8002: unlocated. No accurate location received, but stated to be approximately 55 miles SE of Aberdeen].

The wreck of this vessel was dived on 18 March 2009 by Martin Sinclair, Jim Macleod, Paul Dustan, Nigel Goodman, Graeme Govenlock, Jim Burke, Dave Ward, Tony Ray and Mike Wilcox, from Marine Quest’s Eyemouth registered dive boat Silver Sky. The wreck was not disturbed, and there was no disturbance of the site or the removal of any artefact. It is believed that this wreck has not been previously visited by divers.

The wreck was discovered on a sandy seabed at a depth of 66m (charted depth 62m). It is covered in soft corals with small shoaling fish, cod tucked into holes, lobsters everywhere (some huge) and wolfish. The wreck is essentially intact, but is heavily damaged on the port side aft of the conning tower. It lies at a 45 degree angle, with the attack periscope raised.

This vessel was sunk on 23 June 1915 by the British submarine HMS/M C24 and decoy trawler Taranaki. The location of loss has previously been assumed to be much closer inshore, near Girdle Ness. This was the Royal Navy’s first success in employing a decoy vessel towing a submerged submarine connected by telephone.

The wreck is a war grave, 29 German sailors having died; only Gerhardt Fürbringer (in command) and two other sailors having survived.

Information from Mr Martin Sinclair (Marine Quest, Eyemouth), 23 March 2009.

The equation of the wreck reported by Mr Sinclair with the recorded loss of the U-40 is accepted.

[No accurate location cited].

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 23 March 2009.