Archaeology Notes

Event ID 833342

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/833342

NS14SW 8004 1023 4141

N55 37.75 W5 00.8833

NLO: Holy Island [name: NS 06 30]

Great Cumbrae Island [name centred NS 17 57]

Little Cumbrae Island [name centred NS 14 51]

Isle of Arran [name centred NR 95 35].

Formerly entered as Site no's 1 and 9311.

Quality of fix = EDM

Evidence = Echo sounder

Horizontal Datum = OGB

General water depth = 142

Orientation of keel/wreck = EW

Circumstances of Loss Details

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The escort aircraft carrier, HMS DASHER, sank following a petrol fire and explosion, thought to have been caused initially by an aircraft attempting to land on the carrier.

Source; Dictionary of Disasters at Sea.

HMS DASHER was an archer-class carrier converted from a C-3 merchant vessel in the USA. She was transferred to the Royal Navy on a 'lend-lease'.

Surveying Details

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12 January 1944. The wreck's position is given as 55 38 00N, 004 57 00W. Or 5 miles south of little Cumbrae Island.

17 January 1969. A large wreck was located on a steep slope. The least echossounder depth was 125.5 metres in a general depth of 142 metres. The decca position of [n. brit] red d 23.30 [-0.05], purple i 74.53 [-0.23], gives 55 37 37N, 005 00 49W. The site was surveyed on 27 May 1968.

Report by HMS HYDRA, 11 October 1968.

25 February 1976. The wreck was not detected by side scan sonar in area search. No close search of the stated position was undertaken. the wreck definitely does not project to within 100 metres of the surface.

Report by HMS HECLA, 6 February 1976.

16 April 1982. The large wreck mentioned above is positively identified as the wreck of HMS DASHER. It lies upright in 170 metres, with the flight deck intact at 140 metres.

Report by Naval party 1007, MV Seaforth Clansman, 23 MArch 1982.

17 April 1984. The least depth by echosounder was 95 metres in 55 37 44N, 005 00 55W.

Report by HMS BEAGLE, March 1984.

13 May 1985. The site was examined on 25 March 1984 at 55 37 45N, 005 00 53W or decca [n. brit] red d 23.4, purple i 74.8. The least echosounder depth was 94 in a general depth of 142 metres. A scour 8 metres deep was observed. The side scan sonar indicated a height of 38 metres, and a length of 160 metres (525 feet) approximately. The wreck is apparently upright, lying with its keel orientated 090/270 degrees and with a raised bridge towards the west end. Several small contacts were located around the main wreck.

Report by HMS BEAGLE.

Hydrographic Office, 1995.

(Proposed for designation as a Controlled Site under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986). The escort aircraft carrier HMS Dasher was destroyed by internal explosion in the Firth of Clyde on 27 March 1943. While engaged in deck landing operation training the Dasher suffered an aviation gasoline explosion as a result of which she sank within three minutes. No absolute cause was determined at the time.

The normal complement of the vessel was 520; she sank with the loss of 379 lives.

Information from MOD (Military Maritime Graves consultation) per Mr I Oxley (Historic Scotland), 7 February 2002.

The loss of HMS Dasher with 379 lives on 27 March 1943 remained undisclosed until 1945 but was second only, in home waters, to that of HMS Royal Oak among British warship losses in the Second World War. The wreck lies midway between Brodick (Arran) and Ardrossan (five miles south of Little Cumbrae).

HMS Dasher was the fourth of six 'fighter carriers' (commonly termed 'Woolworth carriers') ordered under lease-lend on 29 April 1942. A second ship (HMS Avenger) of this class was lost in November following a massive explosion caused by a single torpedo hit. This class of ship was based around a standard (C3) hull of merchant ship type, and HMS Dasher was converted from the MS Rio de Janeiro, which was built and converted for the carriage of bananas by the Sun Shipbuilding Company of Hoboken, USA. Conversion was carried out by Tietsen and Laird, also of Hoboken, and completed on 1 July 1942. As converted, the basic dimensions of the ship were: length overall 492ft (150m), flight deck length 410ft (125m) and mean draught 26ft (7.9m). A single Sun Droxford diesel engine of 8500 shp gave a nominal speed of 16kts and a single aircraft lift served the hangar that occupied about half the length of the ship. An H2 accelerator [catapult] was fitted but was compatible only with American types of aircraft.

The ship did not sail for Britain immediately on completion but was held at Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, until mid-August pending rectification of mechanical defects. Further modifications (mainly related to fuel supply and magazine safety) were carried out at Greenock before the ship sailed for Operation Torch (the allied landing at Oran). On return from North Africa, further modifications were carried out at Liverpool before the ship sailed for Murmansk with convoy JW53 on 15 February 1943. The ship left this convoy for temporary repairs in sheltered Icelandic waters after severe weather caused structural damage (including weld failure below the waterline) and the loss or destruction of all her aircraft. The welding was permanently repaired at the Caledon yard, Dundee, in March 1943 before the ship sailed for the Clyde.

At the time of the disaster, the ship was heading up the Clyde to enter Greenock and carried two Sea Hurricanes and eight Swordfish; two of the latter were being refuelled following deck landing practice. The ship's fuel tanks contained 75,000 gallons (340,947 litres) of aviation fuel, and there were six torpedoes and 104 depth charges on board. Two massive explosions aft threw the lift into the air and caused the immediate loss of main engine and electrical power (including lighting). Attempts to fight the fires proved unsuccessful and the ship was abandoned, 149 survivors being recovered to Ardrossan and Greenock. The ship sank at 4.48pm, six minutes after the first explosion.

Although there were initial rumours that the loss was caused by enemy mine or torpedo, the Court of Enquiry held three days later revealed no evidence for an external cause of the explosion, which was seen as being caused by the ignition of petrol vapour. The inadequate safety provisions in ships of this class were noted and numerous detailed amendments to standard operating procedures were proposed. These included the reduction by half of the quantity of aviation fuel carried and the fitting of asbestos fire curtains within the hangar, in accordance with British practice.

Information from Mr J Steele, 12 July 2002.

J Steele 1995.

(Classified as escort carrier: former name cited as Rio de Janeiro, and date of loss as 27 March 1943). HMS Dasher: fire and explosion, vessel sank.

Registration: London. Built 1941. 8200 tons displacement. Length: 140m. Beam: 20m.

(Location of loss cited as N55 37.62 W5 0.82).

I G Whittaker 1998.

This wreck has been designated a Controlled Site under the Protection of Military Remains ACT (PMRA), 1986.

(Comprehensive list of Controlled Sites in article).

Source: Stuart Bryan in Nautical Archaeology, 2001.3, p. 12.

NMRS, MS/2745.

Neither plans nor photographs of this vessel are held in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

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

Listed as Designated controlled site under PMRA 1986.

(Area within 200m distance around N55 37.747 W5 00.953).

MS/5253.