U455 was laid down in September 1940 and launched from Deutsch Werke's yard in Kiel in August 1941 with Kptlt Hans-Heinrich Giessler at her helm. She conducted 10 patrols from 28th February until April 1944 but only sank 3 ships for a total GRT of 17,685 tonnes. Her final skipper was Kptlt Hans-Martin Scheibe, one of the famous Olympia Crew who…
Carrying 230,000 tonnes of crude from Iran to the Mediterranean she was a VLCC (Very Large Crude carrier) discharging to a floating platform 6 miles from Genoa in 1991. With 80,000 discharged she disconnected for an internal transfer (wing tanks to central tank) when the inevitable happened. Five crew died in the initial blast while flames soon leapt to over…
26th July - Nice - Tombant des Americains Our big dive. Thankfully not blown out so as usual I am well hydrated so get into my suit as soon as possible, connect and feel the arcadia. With everyone on the boat as well as all their kit, we trundle out of the port and head over to our usual site,…
25th July - Nice - Interdit. Sadly our intended dive to 100m was blown out - even in the Mediterranean you can get blown out! - so we had to change plan at the last minute. I did consider binning it to give myself a break, off gass, reduce overall stress and spend time with the family but decided to…