Tuesday, 26 August 2014

The Wreck of Vorpostenboot 721


 
 


This time last year I had a brief glimpse of the wreck of a Kriegsmarine Vorpostenboot, VP 721, that had been run aground in the Bay of Audierne, after a one sided and less than successful battle on 22nd/23rd August 1944 with Force 27 during Operation KINETIC:
 
 
At the time, the tide was rapidly rising and the dark was descending fast, which made it impossible to get up close to the wreck. This morning, we went back to have another look even though the tide wasn't as low as before. This time, however, it was daylight rather than early evening, so I managed to get up pretty close and took reasonably detailed pictures despite the impressive surf. 
 
It would appear that the bow section has been tipped over to port by action of the waves, leaving just two of the hull bulkheads extant. The boiler has remained the opposite way up, perhaps due to it's size and weight, whilst the structure aft is, I think, a surviving section of the hull plating. It's difficult to work out what's what, so I'm hoping to be able to return next year when the tide coefficient is really high.

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