E18 has been found

[saltysplash]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8321516.stm


The wreck of a British naval submarine lost for more than 90 years has been found in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Estonia.
HMS E18 - with its complement of three officers and 28 ratings - went out on patrol in May 1916 and was never seen again.
The submarine was one of a handful sent to the Baltic during World War I by Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, to disrupt German shipments of iron ore from Sweden and support the Russian navy.
E18 left its base in the Russian port of Reval - now Tallinn, the capital of Estonia - on the evening of 25 May 1916 and headed west.
The following day she was reported to have engaged and torpedoed a German ship.
A few days later, possibly 2 June, she is believed to have struck a German mine and sunk with all hands.
Appendicitis
Following the submarine's loss, Tsar Nicholas of Russia gave posthumous medals to the crew, including my great-uncle, Luke Landale, the 1st Lieutenant, who was awarded the Order of St Vladimir. He was just 27 years old.
The submarine was found last weekend close to the Estonian island of Hiiumaa by a Swedish marine survey company, MMT.
Luke Landale, right, and crew were given posthumous medals


They were guided by information provided by an Australian descendant of one of the crew, Darren Brown - an airline engineer from Melbourne - who has spent years researching the submarine's history.
His great-grandfather, Signalman Albert Robinson survived the loss of E18 because he fell ill with appendicitis shortly before its last patrol and was confined to his bed.
The Swedish survey vessel, the MV Triad, deployed a remote-operated vehicle and obtained the first pictures showing the 181ft (55m)-long submarine in remarkably good condition.
The Baltic water is cold, brackish and anoxic which means wrecks suffer less rust and degradation than in other seas.
There are also fewer potentially damaging ocean currents.
Photographs from the seabed show the submarine with its hatch open, suggesting that it was sailing on the surface when it hit the mine.
David Hill, an expert in E-class submarines who has examined the images, said: "Without a shadow of doubt they do show an E-class submarine and certain details indicate that it is probably E18."
Successful missions
The owner of the survey company, Carl Douglas, said the discovery was the fruition of almost a decade of work.
"We will now complete our mission to document this wreck and inform the relevant authorities," he said.
"We want to investigate the exact cause of the sinking - and to honour the fallen by telling their story."
The E-class boats were considered to be Britain's most successful submarines during World War I.
E18's sister ship, E19, once sank four German transport ships on one day in October 1915.
These were the submarines that flew the Jolly Roger after successful combat operations to cock a snook at the snobbish, surface-based admirals who looked down on their submerged colleagues.
Such was the success of the eight submarines in the Baltic that it was here the Germans developed the convoy system to protect their shipping

[August]

RIP to your Great Uncle.

[bookworm_020]

Glad to hear that they fond the wreck, as it will bring some long awaited closure for the relatives of the men onboard.

May they rest in peace.

[Platapus]

I honour the service of your great-uncle, 1Lt Luke Landale.

Saltysplash, knowing that you have a relative on that sub, would you prefer it be left there or would you want it raised?

[Schroeder]

@Platapus
I think after 90 years in salt water there is nothing left for a land funeral.

RIP to all who died at those stupid wars.

[Platapus]

I was not necessarily thinking of body recovery, but there is a viewpoint that such sunken ships should be left where they are to serve as the final resting place of the crew.

There is also a viewpoint that if such a ship is recoverable, there might be advantages of recovering it.

Personally, I am torn between these viewpoints. But I don't have any relatives who died at sea and are resting on the bottom of the sea.

That's why I asked the question. I would be interested in how people who do have relatives like this feel about recovery.

[saltysplash]

No relation to me, I just pasted the text to assist those who dont or cant view links.

Some of the images on the news 24 channel showed the boat to be in remarkable good condition.

As far as raising it?

I think some things are best left alone.
its one thing to find her and document the finding but another to bring her up.

Having said that, these days if a ship or boat sinks with loss of life and its not too deep, then they are generally recovered in order to carry out an investigation of its loss so that maybe future losses could be avoided. We dont worry about disturbing those graves yet we have a different feeling when something like E18 has lain hidden for so long.

[Platapus]

You should have used the [ quote] function to separate what you were posting and what you were quoting. I thought you were posting that your Great Uncle was on that submarine.

[Schroeder]

Thought that too.

[Jimbuna]

At the very least the family can now have some form of closure.

RIP

[saltysplash]

Originally Posted by Platapus

You should have used the [ quote] function to separate what you were posting and what you were quoting. I thought you were posting that your Great Uncle was on that submarine.

Ill know for next time thx