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Text and photos by Vic Verlinden The armored Friedrich Carl was constructed in the year 1902 at the well-known shipyard of Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, Germany. The armored cruis- er had a length of 126m and was equipped with an impres- sive array of guns and launchers. She was the second ship of the Prinz Adalbert class when she was commissioned by the Imperial German Navy on the 12 December 1903. SMS Friedrich Carl — Diving the Flagship of Admiral Ehler Behring

In the early years, she served as a tor- ship of Rear Admiral Ehler Behring. At this At the start of the war, Behring was eral light and four . The pedo training ship. Because of her three time, she was converted to carry two ordered to actively monitor the activities squadron was operating from the port engines, she could reach a top speed seaplanes. She was the first ship of the and movements of the Russian fleet in of Danzig but was not able to sail due to of 20 knots. During the outbreak of the Imperial Navy able to carry and launch the Baltic Sea. To execute this mission, the the bad weather. First World War, she served as the flag- seaplanes. Friedrich Carl was accompanied by sev- Historical photo of SMS Friedrich Carl

15 X-RAY MAG : 90 : 2019 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO Canon (left and bottom right) on the wreck of the Friedrich wreck Carl; Discaarded fishing nets rap cover parts of the wreck (below)

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An unexpected explosion the beautiful warship was a heavy Despite the bad weather, the blow to the German navy, as Russian had not been the vessel could not be replaced idle and had laid various mine- immediately. fields in the operating area of the Friedrich Carl. On 17 November, Dive operation in Lithuania Behring ordered the continuation As early as 2017, I had decided to Home of Sunset Divers & of the mission and the vessels left dive the wreck of the SMS Friedrich world class shore diving the port. Carl, but due to circumstances, When the vessel was 30 miles this trip was postponed. However, away from the port of Memel a new date was set for June 2018. (Klaipėda), it was struck by a On 23 June 2018, I was with my heavy explosion. Immediately, dive buddy, Karl Van Der Auwera, the admiral gave the order to try on the way to the port of Kiel in all means to save the ship. Every Germany. From Belgium, this was possible measure to keep the ship only a good 650km drive. afloat was taken; however, in the We embarked on a DFDS Contact us for discounted end, the abandon-ship order was Seaways ferry that would deliver room & dive packages given, and all sailors and officers us the next day to the port city of left the ship. There were only eight Klaipėda in Lithuania. From there, 1 800 854 4767 deaths among the 557 crew mem- it was only a 10-minute drive to our USA & Canada bers and officers, most of whom expedition ship, NZ 55. The owner [email protected] were taken on board the light of the ship is Linus Duoblys, and www.sunsethouse.com/x-ray cruiser Augsburg. A while later, the our dive team consisted of five Mention X-Ray Mag for FREE reservation gift Friedrich Carl disappeared under divers from three different coun- the waves and sank to the bot- tries. My dive buddy and I would 1 345 949 7111 tom of the Baltic Sea. The loss of dive with closed-circuit rebreath- Direct

16 X-RAY MAG : 90 : 2019 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO Diver at one of the canons of the Friedrich Carl (left); The expedition wreck ship, NZ55 , docked at the port city of Klaipeda in Lithuania (below); rap Lamp on the wreck of the Friedrich Carl (bottom right)

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Minke Whale Season! June-July ers, but there were also team wave to be seen on the sea. Unique Opportunity on the . members who would make the This wreck upon which we dives with open-circuit systems. would do our test dive was dis- The maximum depth we would covered two years ago and was reach on the wreck would be located at a depth of 51m. The New Special Expeditions! 82m. However, the water tem- Edith Bosselmann was a cargo Check out our website for details. perature at that depth was only ship loaded with coal that sank 3°C. The good news was that the on 9 December 1942 after a col- at the stage depth lision with a mine, which was laid was 15°C. The plan was to dive by the Russian L3. the next day on another wreck, When I started the dive on the which was 40m away, so that we Edith Bosselmann with my buddy, were able to test our equipment. the visibility was not so good in The weather reports looked the first 15m. But down on the good for the next few days. wreck, visibility was about 12m. This was important because the However, at 3°C, it was freezing Friedrich Carl was 40 miles from cold at the bottom. the harbor. The wreck itself was positioned on its port side and partially Test dive covered by fishing gear. At The wreck of the SS Edith the bottom, the lower part of Bosselmann could be reached the ship’s compass was clearly after two hours’ sailing from the recognizable. After a short Phone: +61 7 4053 0500 port of Klaipėda. Luckily, the reconnoitre of the cargo holds, www.mikeball.com weather was as predicted— we swam towards the #spoilsportlive #mikeballdive calm—and there was hardly a and noticed the propellers and Please email: [email protected]

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The 3°C water at 82m depth of the Friedrich Carl keeps pile worms away, so the wood on the looks like new. rudder. The dive on the Edith and jumped into the water to that were turned outwards. It was Bosselmann was a good warm-up start our descent. At a depth of a beautiful sight in the light of for our dive on the SMS Friedrich 15m, I started to feel the cold the camera lights, because the Carl the next day. temperature of the water. But wreck was almost clear of marine because it was our second dive, growth. Underwater museum we were already a bit adapted to Even pile worms cannot tolerate After our dive on the Edith the cold, so it was not so bad. this cold water, and that was the Bosselman, we prepared the The wreck was at a maximum reason why the wood, which was again, as we had to depth of 82m, but when we still on the deck, appeared like leave early the next day. The boat landed on the bottom, we could new. All the details, such as the trip to the wreck took more than not distinguish the wreck in the ship’s lights, were clearly visible on five hours for the one-way journey. dark. We swam around to try and this wreck, which made it unique Including the diving, we would find it, because the for a ship from the First World War. certainly be on the move for 13 to could not be far from the wreck. We had a maximum bottom 15 hours. However, we were lucky After swimming around for 10 time of 25 minutes, and these were again with the weather, and the minutes, we decided to ascend. now used up, so we had to start trip went smoothly. When we had risen about 15m, our ascent. For the next two days, The dive plan was such that we suddenly saw the wreck and we went back to the wreck. Auwera and I would be the first swam across the port side to Our second dive was the best team to launch. We did a final the midship section. Here, we of all the dives because we inspection of the equipment immediately saw the large guns managed to swim towards the

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Someone who is defined by the standards of education and training they receive in order to gain the expert knowledge and skill necessary to perform a certain role.

The highlight of the expedition was finding the bronze German Imperial Eagle coat of arms on the Friedrich Carl. bow of the wreck where we at the big guns, but a few meters Having dived over 400 found a bronze plate with an farther on, we could see one wrecks, Vic Verlinden is an eagle on it. On our way towards of the smaller guns that was avid, pioneering wreck diver, the bow, we filmed the bollards placed on the side of the ship. award-winning underwater and various other parts; however, We swam away from the sea photographer and dive guide the view of the beautiful bronze bottom as there was a big silt from Belgium. His work has been eagle on the plate was the cloud that reduced the visibility published in dive magazines and THE DEFINITION OF DIVING Shutterstock.com from Image used under license highlight of all the dives to the to almost zero. Here, we found publications in wreck. This alone made the trip various grenades, which were the , Russia, , to Lithuania more than worth it! scattered over this part of the Germany, Belgium, United Increase your level of professionalism by attending a seabed. However, there was no Kingdom and the Netherlands. In search of the stern sign of the propellers and some He is the organizer of the tekDive- NAUI IT/CD/CDT Requalification Workshop During , we wanted other parts of the ship. The part Europe technical dive show. See: to explore the stern and the where the was supposed tekdive-europe.com. Go to the NAUI Calendar of Events at NAUI.org/events bridge. The visibility was a lot less to be was probably under a layer this time when we descended. of mud, which was regrettable. In to locate a Workshop near you. The many fishing nets on the the future, an expedition will be wreck made it a dangerous undertaken to remove the fishing business, if one did not pay nets from the wrecks in Lithuania. United States • • Kuwait • Malaysia • South • Taiwan attention. We had landed back 

XRay_90_Full-Page 215X280mm.indd 1 2/21/19 9:43 AM 19 X-RAY MAG : 90 : 2019 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO wreck rap WWII Japanese Battleship IJN Hiei also found by ’s research vessel Petrel One of the first Japanese battleships sunk by US during World War II has been found by the exploration ship RV Petrel. It lies upside down in 900m of water, north- The wreckage of the USS west of in the . Hornet has been found near the Solomon Islands 76 years IJN Hiei was a warship of the Imperial Francisco. Hiei’s sister ship, after the was Japanese Navy during World War I Kirishima, attempted to tow sunk during a World War II and World War II. As the second of Hiei to safety, but water had naval battle. US NAVY PHOTO 80-G-463613 / PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTO 80-G-463613 PUBLIC / NAVY US four Kongō-class battlecruisers, it was flooded Hiei's steering com- among the most heavily armed ships partments, jamming the rudder Wreckage of WWII aircraft carrier USS Hornet of any navy at the time. In 1942, Hiei to the starboard; this caused took part in many Imperial Japanese the ship to steer in circles. discovered Navy missions, like the invasion of the After suffering more torpedo (now Indonesia), the and dive-bomber attacks Never before published in book form, see extraor- More than 75 years after the ered the wreck of the USS Indianapolis, raid of April 1942, as well throughout the day, the crew which was sunk in 1945 by a Japanese aircraft carrier USS Hornet sank as the . Subsequently, was ordered to abandon ship, dinary images of the forgotten American WWII submarine in one of America's worst naval it was redeployed to the Solomon and escorting destroyers scut- airplanes resting on the bottom of the Kwajalein in a Second World War battle, disasters. The Petrel took on the search for Islands, bound for the Naval Battle tled Hiei with torpedoes. In the Atoll lagoon, from award-winning underwater the Hornet as part of its mission to investi- Paul Allen’s Petrel research ves- of . This was a series of evening of 14 November, Hiei photographer Brandi Mueller. Available on: sel has uncovered its wreck- gate scientific phenomena and historical naval battles between Allied (mainly succumbed to the waves. 188 mysteries in the South Pacific. The 250ft Amazon.com age three miles under the South American) and Imperial Japanese forc- of the crew perished. It was research vessel’s previous shipwreck finds es during the Guadalcanal Campaign the first battleship lost by during show the Hiei’s 127mm guns scattered in Pacific Ocean. include the USS Lexington, the USS Juneau in the Solomon Islands on 12 to 15 World War II. the debris field, a crate of 25mm anti- and the USS Helena. November 1942. aircraft shells resting on the capsized The USS Hornet was involved in many key Finding the wreck , a hole ripped in the hull during its events of the war, including launching the The 10-person expedition team on the Combat and loss Researchers in Japan picked up Hiei’s final battle, and portholes dottingthe famed on Tokyo—the first 250ft RV Petrel were able to locate the In the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, signature off the Solomon Islands remains. Petrel also posted sonar images airborne attack on the Japanese home Hornet’s position by piecing together data Hiei inflicted much damage on Ameri­ in early 2018, prompting the RV Petrel to of the battleship and her debris field on islands after and the United from national and naval archives, which can cruisers and destroyers before its investigate the site and capture the first the seafloor.Hiei is the fourth Japanese States’ entry into the war. It also played a included official deck logs and action re- steering machinery was damaged by underwater views on location. Images battleship found by Petrel's crew. major part in the Battle of Midway. After ports from other ships engaged in the bat- enemy vessels and shells from USS San posted to Facebook from the expedition a fierce battle off Santa Cruz Island in tle. Positions and sightings from nine other “It is highly likely that an October 1942, which has been described US warships in the area were plotted on a ammunition room on the as one of the more bloody and vicious at- chart to generate the starting point for the battleship’s bow side explod- sea battles of the war, the USS Hornet was search grid. In the case of the Hornet, she ed for some reason,” said attacked by a wave of Japanese dive was discovered on the first dive mission Kazushige Todaka, director bombers, torpedo planes and destroyers, of the Petrel’s autonomous underwater of the Kure Maritime Museum hitting the ship with torpedoes. vehicle and confirmed by video foot- in Hiroshima Prefecture, after age from the remotely operated vehicle, viewing the footage taken by Located at 5,400m both pieces of equipment depth-rated to Petrel’s research team.  But now, after years of searching, the 6,000m. wreckage of the USS Hornet was discov- ered in late January 2019, by the expedi- Proud to find the ship's remains, the expe- tion crew of the research vessel RV Petrel. dition team said the find was an homage The Hornet was found 5,400m (about to Paul Allen, who passed away in De- 17,700ft) below the surface, resting on cember 2018 from complications related the floor of the South Pacific Ocean. The to non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  Petrel made history in 2017 when it discov- IJN Hiei in Tokyo Bay, 11 July 1942. During the battle of Guadalcanal, Hiei became the target of most of the American fire, with American 5" guns inflicting severe damage on Hiei's superstructure at close range.

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Wreck Festival 2019 University of Warsaw, 9 February 2019

Text and photos by Peter Symes that were only held in Polish looked described how frustratingly interesting. Ah, well. the organisation's It was frosty and sunny— I understood I should count my survey covered quite a pretty day—when I blessings, and there were still plen- wrecks that were ty of interesting topics among the both Greek and walked through the empty English presentations. Roman, spanning streets of Warsaw one many centuries, quiet Saturday morning in Among the first set of presenta- and how these February. As I was heading tions, I had the choice of Immi finds showed the Wallin’s presentation about the from my hotel to the eighth shipwrecks of Tallinn, or one edition of the International about the wrecks of Messina Strait Shipwreck Festival, which (between mainland and Sicily) was held in the University by Dr Gianmichele Iaria. As I had already heard Wallin’s presenta- of Warsaw’s library, only a tion at Eurotek 2018, I was left with couple of morning joggers an easy choice. Iaria’s presenta- and some drowsy walkers tion on the Ar.Bio.Me project was seemed to be out walking accompanied by some good 3D visualisations, which clearly illus- The venue their shivering dogs. trated the bottom profiles and was formerly locations of wrecks under investi- a library but is The festival is a one-day event, but gation. His talk was translated into now converted with four concurrent sets of pres- Polish, which made for a stop-and- into lecture or presentation halls. entations, it could easily be held go manner of presentation, but I over a full weekend. In which case, found that it was actually a ben- attendees would still be left with efit, as it made room for reflection the agony of choosing between and digestion of the information the various presentations—and yet, before moving on. perhaps not so much for the inter- national attendees and non-Polish Dr Peter Campbell of the RPM speakers, as just about half of the Nautical Foundation gave a talk presentations were held in English, about Aegean wrecks, which was the rest in Polish. That limitation fluid, fast-paced and substantial, went some way to make picking a turning my frantic note-taking presentation easier; but still, some into some sort of made-up, of the topics of the presentations hard-to-decipher shorthand. He

21 X-RAY MAG : 90 : 2019 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO Wreck hunter David Richie Kohler giving his Mearns (right) presentation wreck found the HMS rap Hood, HMAS Sydney and the In June 1941, a ship German raider launched as HMS Kormoran; The Oakley was transferred logo of the to Poland and renamed University­ of ORP Kujawiak. It was Warsaw sunk on 16 June 1942 (left) after running into a mine near Malta while participating in Operation cultural evolution, which took part David Mearns—the Harpoon. over these centuries. The cargo wreck hunter who Thirteen Polish these vessels were carrying was once located the sailors local merchandise, but some parts wreck of the HMS died and were clearly being transported Hood, which was sunk 20 were over long distances, showing trade in the Denmark Strait while giving of the team that rescued wounded. The bell was routes connecting the Black Sea to chase to the German battleship the boys trapped in the recovered North Africa and Egypt. Find more Bismarck during WWII—gave a Thai cave in 2018. This in 2017. information at: korseai.com. lengthy and very captivating narra- rescue has been detailed tion of how they, in 2008, found the in a previous report in the The next presentation I attended HMAS Sydney after first locating the magazine, so I will not go had the intriguing title, “Wrecks of German raider Kormoran, which into further details here. and Sunken Churches,” sank her off on 19 by the Russian team Ivan Borovikov November 1941. These finds have Cocktails and a banquet dinner was and Konstantin Bogdanov. The bit been reported earlier in our maga- held directly afterwards, at 9 p.m., in on the sunken churches concerned zine and on our website where the gorgeous columned hall of the a hydroelectric project stemming the details are still available. He university, which rounded off a pro- "Say cheese." The the flow of the Volga River, which also described how they analysed ductive but very long day in the best presenters line up resulted in towns becoming sub- the wreck, and armed with thou- possible manner. Falling asleep late for a group photo. merged. See: uwex.org/en/media. sands of photos, were able to stitch that evening was not a problem. together how the battle, in all likeli- Moving on to a different con- hood, unfolded. On a concluding but slightly differ- tinent and climate, Captain ent note, I found Warsaw to be an Mark “Sharky” Alexander spoke Richie Kohler gave a cool pres- intriguing and interesting city, which about recreational and techni- entation on German U-boats in impressed me in many ways. The cal wreck dives in the US state the Mexican Gulf, and how one city was pretty much obliterated of —off Pompano Beach, of them was found only about during WWII, but the Poles decided the Keys and Pensacola—where a mile away from the passenger to reconstruct the city as it used to he now runs a called ship Robert E. Lee, which it sank. look before the war. Hence, it has Ultimate Getaway. He gave a The images taken by an ROV from the immediate appearance of an brief overview of the most well- ’s vessel Nautilus old European city, with a compact known artificial wrecks, such as were really stunning, and the wreck centre of centuries-old buildings. the Spiegel Grove, USS Duane, USS appeared to be in amazing condi- Only, almost all of these buildings Vandenburg and others, before tion, with little corrosion or marine were recreated after the war. It moving on to the deeper, more growth due to the anoxic condi- would have fooled me if I had technical wrecks, making a more tions on the bottom of the Mexican not read up on its history before detailed mention of the USS Wilkes- Gulf. Otherwise, it was very much I came. Seeing where the Jewish Barre and HMCS Canada / MV intact. Kohler made a salient point ghetto once stood and where Queen of Nassau. In regards to about “fixing broken history” as several hundred thousand Jews wreck sites off Pensacola, the for- being the best thing we could do were transported to mer aircraft carrier USS Oriskany, with diving. camps during the Holocaust left an which was turned into an artificial indelible impression, which keeps reef, got most of the attention for The final presentation of the day coming back to me. War is evil!  obvious reasons. was by Chris Jewell, who was part Dr Peter Campbell's presentation The banquet dinner was held in the beautiful columned hall of the university. on the Aegean shipwrecks

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