Deck Hatch to hold
Top of Engine in amongst wreckage
Conger having a little look
It's been a long time since I dived this little wreck.And as it was my first dive of the new year it was a nice warm up dive for the 2011 session.
After chugging out of St Peter Port half a mile, on Gulf stream, a 28 foot aqua bell. We radioed up Port control for permission to dive on the Ammo wreck, as it is in very close proximity to the harbour mouth. The harbour master called back over the VHF, and said that the Condor express fast ferry was leaving port at around the time we need to catch slack water to dive. As Condor came out of the harbour she passed right over the wreck site, we gave her a wide birth and then start looking for the wreck on the sonar. She sticks up off the sea bed by about 10 metres so finding her was easy. We arrived over the wreck and threw the shot line in, the pool was now open for Paul and myself to tie the line in and send the grapnel up with an air bag, as soon as we splashed in (I will kid you not it was freezing 8 degrees on my dive computer) we noticed in was slack as a yak, no tide at all which made for an easy descent down thirty three metres to the wreck below. The vis on the surface look ok at about 4/5 metres but as I dropped down through the water column the day light started to fade along with the vis. The shot had hit the wreck mid ships starboard side at about 23 metres just by the remains of the wheelhouse (8) which is easily accessible as the sides have decayed over the years of being under the sea. Inside you can still find in the debris the partly broken spokes and hub of the remains of the ships wheel with a steel framed hole that contains a ladder leading down to the engine room.I now had my bearings of were I was and started to swim forward towards the the pointy end (bow) I soon came across a reinforced platform (10)that would have had a large anti aircraft gun mounted on it, which has been salvaged. Forward of this,the corresponding gun shield (11) is resting on the deck. Reaching the bow you come across the remains of a deck shelter. All that remains is a wide open arch of steel (12) which makes for a nice swim through. The port side of the bow is well broken up (13) and a mess of twisted steel and plating, providing a nice home for large snakes (Conger eels). Making my way to the stern you come across the deck house (1) fixed through the deck house and reaching above it, is a support for another anti aircraft gun platform. Dropping down to 28 meter on the stern deck is the trawl winch (2) and the rounded deck gate (3) for the trawl cables to slide over the deck to stop them from chafing. Beneath the stern is the rudder (4) turned to starboard at 33 metres, took a quick look around for a few scallops and bugs (lobsters) for tea but to no avail as the bottom is heavily commercially trawled. Made my way back to the shot line and took a last look around. With my bottom time running out I returned home the way I came,looking down on the wreck I notice that we had kicked up all the silt that was covering the hull in a grey carpet, making the water look like pea soup and turning the visibility to 0. Diving on Nitrox 32 gave me a nice long bottom time giving me no deco, just the good old 3 minute safety stop.
This little German armed trawler met her end by British aircraft in 1944. She was built in 1928 by Seebeck in its Wesermunde yard in Germany as a steam trawler for Finnish owners.This ship was launched as Prince Rupert, but the Finns soon sold her to the German Grundmann Groschel of Geestermunde,which changed her name to the Dr Rudolf Wahrendorf (locally known as the Ammo Wreck) and gave her the official fishing number PG-383.
The 381 ton trawler then set off on a successful fishing career that lasted until the start of the second world war.
The German Kriegsmarin took over this little trawler on Christmas eve 1939. Armed her with a 40mm gun at her bow and a 20mm at the stern it made her a Verpostenboot (guard ship) with the official navel number of V-209.
By July 1944 she was an armed escort trawler based at St Peter Port. She had been fitted with a bigger stern gun but, like most German shipping after D-day she never travelled alone in the channel or in daylight hours.
On the evening of July, 1944 five Grumman Avengers aircraft of 850 squadron were on anti shipping patrol. Their flight plan took them over the Channel Islands in the early evening close to Guernsey. The three man crew of these US torpedo bombers saw three small merchant ships being escorted out of St Peter Port by three armed German trawlers. The Dr Rudolf Wahrendorf led the way. The Avengers soon swooped in on their bombing run. They had no torpedoes, instead ,the bays held four 500lbs bombs. The first two bomber's attacked the Wahrendorf and the merchant ship behind it. Huge bomb flashes showed direct hits. The second ship in the line was also hit and was soon covered in smoke and flames. She looked like she was slowly sinking. Later reports said this ship was seen beached north of the harbour.
There was no doubt about the Wahrendorf. She was gone from the surface and, apart from the bodies floating in a pool of oil, there was no sign of her. Guernsey reports said that 26 of her crew were killed.
It's been a long time since I dived this little wreck.And as it was my first dive of the new year it was a nice warm up dive for the 2011 session.
After chugging out of St Peter Port half a mile, on Gulf stream, a 28 foot aqua bell. We radioed up Port control for permission to dive on the Ammo wreck, as it is in very close proximity to the harbour mouth. The harbour master called back over the VHF, and said that the Condor express fast ferry was leaving port at around the time we need to catch slack water to dive. As Condor came out of the harbour she passed right over the wreck site, we gave her a wide birth and then start looking for the wreck on the sonar. She sticks up off the sea bed by about 10 metres so finding her was easy. We arrived over the wreck and threw the shot line in, the pool was now open for Paul and myself to tie the line in and send the grapnel up with an air bag, as soon as we splashed in (I will kid you not it was freezing 8 degrees on my dive computer) we noticed in was slack as a yak, no tide at all which made for an easy descent down thirty three metres to the wreck below. The vis on the surface look ok at about 4/5 metres but as I dropped down through the water column the day light started to fade along with the vis. The shot had hit the wreck mid ships starboard side at about 23 metres just by the remains of the wheelhouse (8) which is easily accessible as the sides have decayed over the years of being under the sea. Inside you can still find in the debris the partly broken spokes and hub of the remains of the ships wheel with a steel framed hole that contains a ladder leading down to the engine room.I now had my bearings of were I was and started to swim forward towards the the pointy end (bow) I soon came across a reinforced platform (10)that would have had a large anti aircraft gun mounted on it, which has been salvaged. Forward of this,the corresponding gun shield (11) is resting on the deck. Reaching the bow you come across the remains of a deck shelter. All that remains is a wide open arch of steel (12) which makes for a nice swim through. The port side of the bow is well broken up (13) and a mess of twisted steel and plating, providing a nice home for large snakes (Conger eels). Making my way to the stern you come across the deck house (1) fixed through the deck house and reaching above it, is a support for another anti aircraft gun platform. Dropping down to 28 meter on the stern deck is the trawl winch (2) and the rounded deck gate (3) for the trawl cables to slide over the deck to stop them from chafing. Beneath the stern is the rudder (4) turned to starboard at 33 metres, took a quick look around for a few scallops and bugs (lobsters) for tea but to no avail as the bottom is heavily commercially trawled. Made my way back to the shot line and took a last look around. With my bottom time running out I returned home the way I came,looking down on the wreck I notice that we had kicked up all the silt that was covering the hull in a grey carpet, making the water look like pea soup and turning the visibility to 0. Diving on Nitrox 32 gave me a nice long bottom time giving me no deco, just the good old 3 minute safety stop.
All came back safe and sound.
Happy bubbles
Phil
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