Torpedoed Ships off the Irish Coast

Ask any Plymouth diver about their first wreck and chances are they will name the James Eagan Layne. This American Liberty ship was torpedoed by U-1195 off Eddystone Reef in March 1945 — one of the very last U-boat kills of the war — and sank in Whitsand Bay after an unsuccessful tow, mercifully without any loss of life. Lying on sand between 10 and 24 metres, she is shallow enough for newly certified divers yet interesting enough to draw experienced wreck enthusiasts back again and again. The structure teems with life: pollack shoal around the superstructure, conger eels lurk in the hull plating, and spider crabs carpet the decking in season. Sitting just 540 metres from the scuttled frigate HMS Scylla, the two wrecks together make Whitsand Bay one of the most accessible double-wreck sites in British waters.

Ornate ironwork on the bow, intact after more than a century on the seabed. The SV Invercauld (III) was a 1,416 GRT three-masted steel barque, 237.5 feet long, attacked by the German submarine U-84 on 22 February 1917 while carrying timber from Gulfport, Mississippi, to Fleetwood. After sustaining damage approximately 22 miles southeast of Mine Head, she drifted and sank just south of the Coningmore Rocks near the Saltee Islands. The wreck sits remarkably upright at about 25 metres and is discernible throughout her entire length -- one of the most structurally intact wrecks in the Saltees group. The boilers rise 4 metres off the seabed. Strange and unpredictable currents make this a dive for adequately trained divers only; the current on the shot line may differ significantly from bottom conditions.

Over 564 dead -- the greatest single loss of life in the Irish Sea, and one of the most devastating maritime disasters of World War I. On 10 October 1918, UB-123 fired three torpedoes at the RMS Leinster near the Kish Bank. The first missed. The second struck the port side. As Captain Birch tried to turn back toward Kingstown, the third torpedo cut the ship almost in half. Twenty-one of 22 postal sorters aboard perished. The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company mail steamer, built in 1896 at Birkenhead, now lies at 28 metres approximately 4 nautical miles east of the Kish Light. The bow stands proud of the seabed; the rest is largely collapsed into sand. The anchor, recovered in 1991, is displayed at Carlisle Pier, Dun Laoghaire. Strong currents and poor visibility make this an advanced dive. War grave.

Originally launched in the closing months of World War I as War Buffalo, the Persier spent her interwar years under the Belgian flag before the next conflict caught up with her. In February 1945, a torpedo struck her port side while she sailed in convoy just three miles from Eddystone. She limped into Bigbury Bay and grounded on a reef, where she remains today between 18 and 28 metres. Discovered in 1969 by Plymouth Sound BSAC members, she became a closely guarded local favourite before word spread to the wider diving community. At nearly 122 metres long she is a substantial wreck, and the virtual absence of tidal current at the site means she can be dived at any state of tide — a rare luxury on the Devon coast. Her hull sections, boilers and machinery provide hours of exploration across multiple dives.

The Gascony presents a puzzle that rewards patient exploration. Attacked by UC-75 on 18 January 1918, this armed cargo steamer broke in two and sank the following afternoon near Selsey Bill, coming to rest upside down on the edge of the Owers — a notorious shallow bank that has claimed countless vessels over the centuries. Her inverted orientation makes navigation tricky: what should be the deck is buried, and you swim beneath the keel looking up at the hull plating. Among the scattered cargo, the wheels of army gun carriages poke through the wreckage, a reminder that she was doing war work when the torpedo found her. At 27 to 30 metres she sits in nitrox-friendly territory, though currents near the Owers demand timing. For experienced sport divers who enjoy reading a wreck's story from its remains rather than its silhouette, the Gascony delivers a satisfyingly cerebral dive.

Father and son died together. Quartermaster Timothy Buckley of Blarney Street and his son Florence, a trimmer, were both serving aboard the SS Inniscarra when a German submarine torpedoed her on 12 May 1918, ten miles south-east of Ballycotton Island. Their deaths were part of a devastating pattern: in 1918 alone, the City of Cork Steam Packet Company lost the Inniscarra, the Innisfallen, the Imber, and the Serula. By the Armistice, only one ship remained and over 178 employees were dead. Built by Wigham Richardson & Sons Ltd, the Inniscarra carried cargo on the Cork routes. The wreck lies off the Cork coast near Ballycotton.

No wreck off the English coast has welcomed more divers than the Kyarra. Built on the Clyde in 1903 as a luxury liner for the Australian run, she carried 286 passengers in considerable comfort before the Great War requisitioned her as a hospital ship tasked with evacuating wounded troops. On 26 May 1918, heading for Plymouth to collect a thousand injured Australians, a torpedo from UB-57 struck amidships and sent her to the bottom a mile off Anvil Point. Six men died. Discovered in the late 1960s and now owned by Kingston and Elmbridge BSAC, she lies between 18 and 30 metres in waters that regularly deliver good Dorset visibility. Thousands of divers visit each year, yet her 127-metre hull absorbs the traffic easily. The boilers, engine room and stern section are highlights, and the marine life — from nudibranchs to cuttlefish — is outstanding for a Channel wreck.

Torpedoed, then shelled 20 times by the surfaced U-boat for good measure. The SS Castle Eden, a 1,949 GRT steam collier fitted with a 13-pounder stern gun, departed Glasgow at 3:30am on 4 March 1918 carrying 2,900 tons of coal and timber for the Royal Navy at Lough Swilly. SM UB-110 torpedoed her engine room, then surfaced and pummelled the stricken ship with 20 shells. Remarkably, all crew survived. The wreck at 31-32 metres in Culdaff Bay off Malin Head is broken to seabed level by Atlantic groundswell, but rewards patient exploration. Divers find a dense shoal of pouting at the boilers, conger eels in gaps in the plating, the triple-expansion engine fallen to starboard, greenhouse-like ventilation hatches, and a large steering quadrant at the stern. INFOMAR has produced a 3D model. Featured in Divernet Wreck Tour No. 111.

The Moidart's story is one of the most harrowing of the U-boat war. On 9 June 1918, this schooner-rigged steamer was carrying 1,550 tons of Welsh coal and 80 tons of steel plates from Cardiff to Le Havre when UC-77's torpedo struck to starboard near the stern gun. She went down by the stern in less than sixty seconds — so violently fast that not a single lifeboat could be launched. Fifteen of her twenty-one crew perished, many trapped below or thrown into the water alongside the ship. Only six men survived. She rests at 33 metres in Lyme Bay with her bow pointing just east of north, a sombre but compelling dive that puts you face to face with the human cost of unrestricted submarine warfare. The depth and exposed position demand respect, but for advanced divers comfortable in these conditions, the Moidart is a powerful experience.

"Possibly the best wreck dive in Ireland." That is the verdict of local charter operators on the SS Folia, and the numbers back it up: relatively light currents and an average bottom visibility of 9 metres or more -- exceptional for Irish waters. This former Cunard liner of 6,705 GRT was torpedoed by U-53 under the highly decorated Hans Rose on 11 March 1917, 4 nautical miles off Ram Head, Ardmore. The third officer spotted a periscope 150 metres away, then two torpedo wakes. U-53 surfaced, circled, shelled the ship four times, and fired a second torpedo. Seven crew died. Badly broken up at 33-38 metres, but bow, boilers, stern with rudder, and an anti-aircraft gun remain as high points. Spent artillery shells from her 4,400-tonne cargo litter the seabed. Takes several dives to appreciate fully. Licence required from National Monuments Service. Boat from Dungarvan.

Two torpedoes, five minutes, twelve dead. SM U-103 struck the SS Cork on 26 February 1917 while she crossed the Irish Sea from Dublin to Liverpool carrying sheep, horses, and cattle. The first torpedo hit the engine room; the second struck near the foremast, destroying a lifeboat and eliminating any margin for escape. Built for the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company for the cross-channel trade, the Cork disappeared beneath the waves barely five minutes after impact, nine nautical miles northeast of Point Lynas, Anglesey. Seven passengers and five crew were lost. The wreck now lies upright and largely intact at 48 metres depth in the Irish Sea -- a well-preserved snapshot of early 20th-century cross-channel commerce.

One of six ships lost. The City of Cork Steam Packet Company was systematically gutted by U-boat warfare during World War I, and the SS Ardmore was among the toll. Built in 1909 at the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. in Dundee, 79.3 metres long with an 11-metre beam, she was torpedoed by SM U-95 on 13 November 1917 while carrying general cargo from London to Cork. The attack in St George's Channel, 13 nautical miles west-southwest of the Coningbeg Lightship, killed 19 of her 27 crew. The cumulative losses nearly bankrupted the company. After the war, they rebuilt -- replacing the Ardmore with the SS Ardmore II. The wreck lies in St George's Channel off the Wexford coast.

Two ships. One U-boat. Two days. Eighty-three dead -- sixty-seven of them from a city of just 28,000 people. On 15 December 1917, U-62 torpedoed the SS Formby on the Liverpool to Waterford route. Bad weather delayed the news. Two days later, the SS Coningbeg sailed the same route, unaware her sister ship lay on the bottom. U-62 was still there. All 44 aboard the Coningbeg perished. Originally built as SS Clodagh by Ailsa Shipbuilders in Troon in 1903, the Coningbeg was a Clyde Shipping Company cargo vessel serving the Waterford trade. The dive site off the Wexford coast features strong currents but prolific fish life and colourful marine growth. Together with the Formby, this twin tragedy remains one of the worst maritime disasters of WWI off the Irish coast.

Nobody in Waterford knew. Bad weather had cut the telegraph, and it was assumed the Formby had simply sheltered from the storm. In reality, U-62 had torpedoed the Clyde Shipping Company cargo vessel on 15 December 1917 while she carried cattle from Waterford to Liverpool, killing all 35 crew. Two days later, her sister ship SS Coningbeg sailed the same route into the same waiting U-boat. All 44 aboard the Coningbeg died too. Of the 83 killed across both sinkings, 67 were from Waterford and surrounding communities including Faithlegg and Cheekpoint. The double tragedy devastated the waterfront community and is commemorated as one of the worst maritime disasters of World War I off the Irish coast.

Barrels of Guinness saved their lives. When the SS W.M. Barkley -- the first vessel of the famous Guinness fleet -- was torpedoed by UC-75 on 12 October 1917, she broke in two and sank within minutes just seven miles east of the Kish Lightship. Five crew died including the captain. But eight survivors escaped in an open lifeboat, buoyed by floating hogshead barrels of stout from the breached cargo hold. Built in 1898 and sold to Guinness in 1913, the 569 GRT vessel was also the first Irish merchant ship defensively armed with guns against submarine attack during WWI. The wreck lies at approximately 55 metres about 16 miles east of Dublin Port. A historically significant wreck connecting Dublin's brewing heritage with the submarine warfare of the Great War.

On 5 September 1914, just weeks into the First World War, HMS Pathfinder made unwanted history as the first major warship ever sunk by a locomotive torpedo fired from a submarine. SM U-21, commanded by Otto Hersing, struck the scout cruiser's forward magazine, and the resulting explosion tore the bow clean off. Of her complement, 259 men were lost. She now rests upright in around 60 metres of water off St Abbs, her hull intact from stern to bridge area but the bow section scattered where the magazine detonated. A designated war grave under the Military Remains Act, she may be visited but not disturbed. The dive is strictly technical territory — deep, cold and demanding — but carries a historical gravity that few wrecks anywhere in the world can equal. Those who descend to her pay their respects to a moment that changed naval warfare forever.

Ninety seconds. That was all the time between the torpedo impact and the Pinto disappearing beneath the Atlantic. She was doing what rescue ships do -- stationary, picking survivors from the water after U-482 had torpedoed the SS Empire Heritage just 30 minutes earlier. The same U-boat fired again, and the 1,346 GRT convoy rescue ship sank almost instantly. Captain Lawrence Boggs, M.B.E., was among the dead. Built in 1928 and converted for rescue service in May 1942, the Pinto had sailed with 10 convoys before her loss on 8 September 1944 while stationed with Convoy HX 305. The wreck at approximately 66 metres lies near the Empire Heritage wreck site, north-northeast of Tory Island. A deep technical dive requiring trimix, in remote open Atlantic conditions.

Sherman tanks sit upright on the seabed at 67 metres, some perfectly intact, others still racked neatly in the holds three deep. The SS Empire Heritage was a 15,702 GRT tanker carrying aviation fuel, tanks, and half-track military vehicles from New York as part of Convoy HX-305 when U-482 torpedoed her on 8 September 1944 approximately 20 nautical miles northwest of Malin Head. She went down in under five minutes, killing 113. Thirty minutes later, the same U-boat torpedoed the rescue vessel Pinto as she picked up survivors. The sight of WWII military vehicles entangled with the wreckage is unique among Irish dive sites. Clear Atlantic water off Donegal often provides visibility exceeding 15 metres. The wreck is a designated war grave.

Six torpedoes from two separate U-boats over two days. That's what it took to sink the Justicia -- one of the largest vessels lost during World War I at 32,234 GRT and 237 metres long. Originally laid down as the Holland-America liner Statendam, she was completed as a British troopship. UB-64 torpedoed her northwest of Malin Head on 19 July 1918, but she stayed afloat and was taken in tow. The following day UB-124 found her and fired two more torpedoes. By noon she rolled over and sank. At 70 metres depth, over 25 nautical miles offshore, everything about the wreck is enormous: oversized chains, derricks, capstans on the foredeck, a massive anchor still in place on the broken-off bow. A three-hour-plus boat transfer is required. The sheer scale makes this one of the most extraordinary technical dives in the world.

A New Zealand-owned ship, requisitioned by Britain, torpedoed by Germany, resting off Ireland. The SS Roscommon was an 8,238 GRT cargo steamship built in 1902 by Workman, Clark & Co. in Belfast for the Union Steamship Co. of New Zealand. Taken up under the Liner Requisition Scheme during World War I, she was intercepted by U-53 under Kapitanleutnant Hans Rose on 21 August 1917 while on voyage from Manchester to Australia, approximately 20 miles northeast of Tory Island. No casualties were reported. At 76 metres, this is one of the deeper Malin Head technical dives. A rebreather is the weapon of choice and trimix is mandatory. Mevagh Dive Centre in Carrigart is the specialist operator for the area.

Eighteen minutes. That's all it took for the Lusitania to disappear beneath the Celtic Sea on 7 May 1915, taking 1,198 souls with her. A single torpedo from U-20, fired eleven miles south of the Old Head of Kinsale, struck the starboard side -- followed by a mysterious second explosion whose cause is still debated. The sinking turned American opinion against Germany and altered the course of World War I. Today the wreck lies on her starboard side at approximately 93 metres, heavily collapsed and continuing to degrade from corrosion and tidal currents. Diving the Lusitania demands advanced trimix certification, deep wreck experience, and permission from Irish authorities. Visibility typically runs 5-8 metres in moderate to strong currents. This is a protected site under Irish law, and the Irish Examiner reported in 2024 that efforts are underway to document and recover artefacts before further collapse.

A 17,000-ton ocean liner sitting upright on the seabed at 130 metres, largely intact, in water described as having awesome visibility. HMS Transylvania is among the deepest diveable wrecks in the region -- extreme technical expedition territory, accessible only to expert trimix or CCR divers. Built in 1925 by Fairfield Shipbuilding in Glasgow for the Anchor Line, she was requisitioned in August 1939 and converted to armed merchant cruiser F56, serving on the Northern Patrol. On 10 August 1940, U-56 torpedoed her approximately 40 nautical miles northwest of Malin Head. Taken in tow, she later foundered. Approximately 300 officers and ratings were rescued by nearby trawlers. The wreck requires a 3-4 hour boat transit from the Donegal coast.