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November 2015

November 2015

U-Boat Navigator Mission 2015:

HMHSText by Svetlana Murashkina Britannic Photos by Sergey Bychkov and Svetlana Murashkina — In the Channel, Greece Underwater photos by Eugene Tomashov

13 X-RAY MAG : 69 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO EUGENE TOMASHOV feature Navigator The Ageotec Perseo GTV ROV at HMHS Britannic’s forecastle deck (previous page) and illuminates Bri- tannic as it is now (right)

Through the centuries in Greece, Kea Island’s renowned statue, the Lion of Kea (one cannot see him from the shore, but I know he is there), continues to smile and look askance upon human vanity—exact- ly the same way he did in 1916, when during , hospital ships were hit by mines and tragically sank in the Kea Channel. These ships, now wrecks, include HMHS Britannic and SS Burdigala.

EUGENE TOMASHOV

It’s July, 2015, Greece. It’s very hot me to the ferry in Lavrio, complains: U-Boat Navigator and the company, U-Boat Malta. outside. Television commentators “Business is very slow. But who said The captain of the Russian-Ukrainian- U-Boat Malta provides services to from various countries are pas- that life is easy?” Maltese crew, Olexandr Stasyukevy- organizations in the fields of marine sionately informing humanity that After an hour’s journey on azure ch, welcomes me onboard U-Boat archaeology, scientific and historical Greece is ready to leave the Europe- seas, I reach Kea Island and find Navigator, the research vessel of research, as well as film. The com- an Union, and an inevitable collapse everything there even more relaxed. U-Boat Malta. The wrecks of HMHS pany’s playground is mainly the shadows the nation. Here, on At- Visitors are met with hugs and kisses, Britannic and SS Burdigala are the Mediterranean, but is not limited to tica, there is still some tranquility and and friendly shouts, and as the cars subjects of research for the first stage this region. This time, it is the Aegean serenity to be found, as is usual for disembarking from the ferry leave the of a joint expedition between the Sea. SERGEY BYCHKOV this historical region encompassing parking lot, a tranquil atmosphere Center for Underwater Research of U-Boat Navigator’s captain, Stasy- Triton submarine being readied for launch with pilot Dmitry . Maria, the taxi driver taking settles over the port. the Russian Geographical Society ukevych, is a celebrity in the yacht Tomashov and project photography director Sergey Machilsky

14 X-RAY MAG : 69 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Triton 3300/3 goes to the sea, secured by the tender; U-Boat Navigator at Kea Island; Works on board— ropes, winch, crew; The Russian geographic Navigator feature society crest on board U-Boat Navigator

SVETLANA MURASHKINA

SERGEY BYCHKOV

world; besides being a suc- the engineer, André Tanti; the into every cubic me- cessful racer and coach, he electrician, Sergii Zakharov; the ter of ship. There was took part in an epic journey cook, Alexey Leonov; the deep a remotely operated onboard the yacht, Scorpius, divers Levan Margishvili and vehicle (ROV)—an in a “circulation of 33 seas”— Andrey Likhanskiy—possess the Ageotec Perseo GTV for bypassing both poles in one absolute top, professional quali- visual and instrumental navigation. On the same crew fications in their fields, and at inspections—and the of the Scorpius was, by the way, the same time, do not shun any Triton 3300/3 submarine, SVETLANA MURASHKINA Sergey Bychkov, who is also a work onboard; this is the way able to work at 1,000 doctor aboard the U-Boat Navi- things are done here. Everyone meters depth. There was also including a hyperbaric cham- view of Kea Island’s shore, in gator. All the U-Boat Naviga- is a sailor, first of all. equipment, winches, ber—a dream for any the channel between Kea and tor’s crew members—the boat- Aboard the U-Boat Naviga- , including a technical diver. , rests the legendary swain, Sergey Zhdanovych; the tor, I was struck by the quantity compressor and gas blender, Off to the sea we go! Here, ship Britannic. chief engineer, Joseph Calleja; of various equipment, packed and a full medical complex, for nearly 100 years, in direct SVETLANA MURASHKINA

15 X-RAY MAG : 69 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO Triton 3300/3 being prepared by the ten- der (right); The Triton with its crew, sub- Navigator feature merging (below)

SVETLANA MURASHKINA

Britannic in terms of deaths compared to The British shipping company the sinking of the Titanic or the ’s third and larg- Lusitania, or many of other ves- est Olympic-class , sels lost during WWI. HMHS Britannic was the sister-ship Divers often call this wreck of RMS Titanic and RMS Olympic. Britannic was supposed to enter service as the transatlantic pas- SERGEY BYCHKOV senger liner, RMS Britannic. The vessel was launched just before the “Underwater Everest”, Navigator provides everything for film documentaries entitledDark the beginning WWI, however, she stressing the unique fea- this purpose: deep divers on staff, Waters. Part one, entitled “Red sat out of action at her builders in tures, dangers and com- equipment, 100m Crosses on the Water: Hospital for several months before plexity involved in diving operating with a hot Ships of WWI”, is dedicated to the becoming a in 1915. the Britannic, which rests at water supply—so divers can be 100-year anniversary of the sinking On the morning of 21 November a depth of 120m. Indeed, warm and comfortable during the of HMHS Britannic. 1916, Britannic hit an underwater the number of people who five to six hours of . The Triton submarine is used as a mine off the Greek island of Kea have visited this mag- “housing” for the 6K RED camera, in the Kea Channel, and sank 55 nificent ship underwater ROV and Triton submarine while also carrying a camera- minutes later killing 30 of the 1,066 is less than the number of But the most interesting features man and a pilot. The pilot, Dmitry people on board. those who have gone to of this expedition are the primary Tomashov, has spent over 40 There were 1,036 survivors pulled outer space. Diving Britan- “divers”—the ROV and the Triton hours on Britannic—an unprec- from the water onto lifeboats; nic is extremely difficult, submarine—as the main goal of edented record—and contributes after about an hour at 9:07 a.m., demanding good prepa- the expedition is to get high-qual- his vast experience and invalu- the Britannic sank. Even though ration and technical div- ity footage of HMHS Britannic and able knowledge on the subject to Britannic was the biggest ship lost ing knowledge as well as other deep wrecks for research the expedition. The cameraman, in WWI, it was not the most costly SVETLANA MURASHKINA technical support. U-Boat purposes and for the series of Eugene Tomashov, has even more Deep diver Levan Margishvili cleaning U-Boat Navigator’s windows at port of Korissia

16 X-RAY MAG : 69 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO feature Navigator

The Ageotec Perseo GTV ROV on Britannic

100m experience. Dima and Eugene, comprise a magnificent father-and- son team, operating navigator seamlessly and under- standing each other perfectly well. RESEARCH VESSEL Diving and filming Experienced marine, The ship is 260m long, diving, and filming crew with a maximum depth of 120m. The wreck is TEC. DIVING done consistently, from , Diving bell, to stern or from and Decompression stern to bow, depend- ing on the . At chamber on board least two to three shifts are necessary to cover SONAR RESEARCH the wreck, during which U-Boat Navigator moves DEEP WATER RESEARCH its anchors, relocating Triton 3300/3 the ROV. Eugene films ROV Ageotec Perseo GTV

U-BOAT MALTA: SCIENCE EXPLORATION EUGENE TOMASHOV IMAGING close-ups, high- at a glance. This imagery was hours of shooting Britannic, captur- The Britannic wreck, like many lighting details made possible by special shooting ing several terabytes of footage. deep wrecks, is disappearing over of the wreck. technology, with the submarine What is the reason for this? HMHS time. Water and marine organisms This year, during and the ROV working together, Britannic is a real movie star— are doing their job and taking their the third expe- to direct a large amount of light nearly as famous as her sister-ship, toll on the ship’s remains. In time, 1000m dition season onto the subject. The director of Titanic. Eugene Tomashov, the this gorgeous ship will turn into piles in a row, the photography of the project, Ser- expedition leader and project of dust. So, it is necessary to show team succeed- gey Machilsky—well-respected in developer, is a professional deep- Britannic as she is now, and once ed in shooting Russian cinematography—is an water diver, underwater operator again, remember her legendary general views experienced professional and also and scriptwriter. He has investigat- and tragic story.  of the wreck a diver, himself. ed and filmed hundreds of wrecks, 1250m in order to see After several expedition seasons, and he is very passionate about SOURCE: HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/ www.u-boat.com.mt EUGENE TOMASHOV the whole ship the team has carried out about 50 documenting underwater wrecks. HMHS_BRITANNIC Britannic’s port anchor, still in its hawsepipe

17 X-RAY MAG : 69 : 2015 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO

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