The U 95, 1918 (Pas-de-Calais)

Description

An initial attempt in the 1960s to locate the wreck of German submarine Unterseeboot 95 yielded no results. The search resumed in 1985 under the direction of Alain Richard. This time the divers located the wreck of the submarine nine miles off Hardelot, lying on sand at a depth of 39 m. Except for the bow of the U-boat, which had been damaged by the intensive trawling in the area, the submarine was intact and sitting upright on her keel. All her hatches were closed.

Subsequent dives identified four torpedo tubes, two guns (88 mm and 105 mm) and a turret featuring two periscopes. The date engraved on the propeller confirmed, along with the other features observed, the wreck to be the final remains of U-95.

Launched in 1917, the ill-fated submarine was probably holed by a mine or perhaps the explosion of a malfunctioning torpedo. The corpses of her forty-three crew members remain imprisoned in the wreck.

Bibliography

• RICHARD Alain — L’U-Boot du Vergoyer, sous-marin coulé au large d’Hardelot-Plage en janvier 1918, est l’U 95 : la fin d’une énigme ! In : Diving on the Côte d’Opale. Ed. Codep 62, 2007, p. 119-136
• Wreck group diving
• U 95 - January 1918