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HMS Audacious sank after having struck a mine laid out by the German ship Berlin, 24 kilometers from Malin Head in Northeastern Ireland on 27. October 1914. This new and big dreadnaught was to sea for training with her 13,5" guns when they struck the mine which hit Audacious on her port side The ship started to take in water quickly, and was a little later out under tow form the British cruiseliner Olympic who had arrived the site to help, but thanks to poor routines on working against flooding and damage control, Audacious sank. Audacious became the first major loss of an warship under first world war. The wreck of HMS Audacious rest today on a depth of 61 to 72 meters, and was first visited by technical divers 9. April 1995...
GPS: N 55 28,291 W 07 45,101 King George V class
Dreadnought At the time of the sinking, the British Grand Fleet was suffering a series of setbacks that caused it to be much weaker than it looked on paper; Several of the newer dreadnoughts had not yet been worked up, several others were suffering from engine problems, and the battle cruiser Invincible was having her troublesome electric turret gear replaced with a hydraulic system. In an effort to hide this weakness, Admiral Jellicoe suggested that the loss of Audacious be covered up. The British Foreign Office readily agreed, and the British cabinet concurred. A campaign of censorship led to the suppression of all stories of her loss, and the ship continued to appear on the fleet lists until after the war. However, there were hundreds of Americans embarked on the Olympic, so the American press was filled with stories and even photos of her sinking. Soon, the loss of HMS Audacious was common knowledge to the entire world, and the continued insistence of the Royal Navy that the ship was still in service became a running joke that undermined the credibility of the British government on the world stage. The HMS Audacious lays in 216 feet of water, with the top of the wreck at 190 feet, some 15 miles off Malin Head. Because the loss of the vessel was kept secret, the wreck was not discovered until 1995, and it is thus almost completely undisturbed. The vessel is upside down, with large holes blown in the hull from the magazine explosion and mine, which allows access to the engine rooms and other internal spaces. One turret is turned 90-degrees, so the guns protrude from underneath the hull. Torpedoes, 13.5-inch, and 4-inch shells litter the bottom around the wreck. The bottom is gravel, which leads to excellent visibility. Due to the depth and the prevalent heavy seas, this is a difficult dive for the experienced diver only. The British liner Olympic, sister ship to the ill-fated Titanic, answered the distress call, and along with the cruiser Liverpool and some destroyers took off all but 250 essential crew members. The giant liner then attempted to tow the wounded battleship to port, but the sea and wind were pulling hard to the south, so the pull line parted. The cruiser, and later the collier Thornhill, also attempted the tow, but the rough weather made salvage impossible. By 5 PM all but 50 crewmen had been evacuated, and they followed an hour later. By 9 PM the list had increased to 30 degrees, and the vessel was down dramatically by the stern. At 10:45 PM she capsized, and 15 minutes later a large explosion of a forward magazine, followed by two smaller secondary explosions, accompanied the sinking of the vessel. No lives were lost in the incident, but one of Britain's newest and most powerful dreadnoughts had been lost due to poor damage control. History: |
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Edited 29.06.2007 |