War Grave Wrecks in Ireland

The disaster was raised in the House of Commons. On 28 January 1894, the three-masted iron-clad barque Port Yarrock -- carrying refined copper ore worth GBP 100,000 from the US to Cobh -- was driven onto Kilcummin strand in Brandon Bay after dragging her anchors for over a week in a disabled state. All 20 British and Scandinavian crew perished; seven bodies were never recovered. The Court of Inquiry blamed the managing owner, Robert John Rowat, for allowing the ship to sail short-handed and for failing to send instructions to move her to safety. The wreck is largely buried in sand with the bowsprit visible at extreme low spring tides. An anchor and centenary memorial stone placed in 1994 stand on shore above Kilcummin strand. Very shallow shore exploration in the Maharees area.

Few wrecks carry the emotional weight of the Rohilla. This Harland & Wolff-built liner had been requisitioned as a hospital ship just weeks into the First World War and was steaming south from Scotland to collect wounded soldiers from France when a northeast gale drove her onto Whitby Rock in the early hours of 30 October 1914. With shore lights blacked out for wartime, her crew never saw the reef. What followed was a three-day rescue drama that gripped the nation — lifeboats launching repeatedly into mountainous seas, spectators lining the cliffs, and 83 lives lost despite extraordinary courage from the rescuers. Most of the dead were doctors and nurses. Today the wreck lies flattened in shallow water off Saltwick Bay, accessible as a shore dive when conditions allow. The site is a war grave. At low spring tides, structural remains break the surface — a stark reminder visible to anyone walking the coastal path above.

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.

One man survived -- blown clear into the sea by the force of the explosion. When a mine from UC-42 detonated amidships on 12 July 1917, the 37-metre armed minesweeper George Milburn was ripped apart while escorting the oiler SS Wylie from Queenstown to Milford. Eleven of the twelve crew died instantly. The sole survivor was picked up by a passing fishing boat. The wreck lies in two pieces at 23 metres west of Hook Head in Waterford Harbour. Local sub-aqua clubs leave a permanent shot line on the site, making it easy to locate. The relatively shallow depth allows extended bottom time, and DUSAC describe it as a rewarding afternoon dive. About 30 minutes by boat from Dunmore East. Designated war grave.

The crew of UC-42 were laying mines to destroy other ships when one of their own mines destroyed them. On 10 September 1917, this German UC II-class minelaying submarine was deploying a minefield at the entrance to Cork Harbour off Roches Point when a mine detonated, killing all 27 crew instantly. The wreck was relocated by divers in 2010 in approximately 28-30 metres and subsequently designated a war grave under the National Monuments Acts. She rests on her port side with the keel visible and an external bow torpedo tube lying in the silt beneath. In 2024, divers from Blackwater Sub Aqua Club and Mizen Archaeology recovered one of the propellers after months of careful excavation -- a significant maritime heritage event covered by RTE and the Irish Examiner. A licence under the National Monuments Acts is required to dive this protected site.

Friday the 13th lived up to its reputation. On 13 April 1917, the SS Bandon struck a mine from German submarine UC-44 off Mine Head while sailing from Liverpool to Cork. The blast beside the engine room killed 28 crew; only 4 survived, including Captain Kelly. In a grim twist, UC-44 herself was destroyed just four months later by one of her own mines off Dunmore East, with her commander Kurt Tebbenjohanns as the sole survivor. The Bandon wreck lies badly broken up at 33-34 metres, oriented east-west. INFOMAR multibeam surveyed. More challenging than nearby SS Folia -- heavier bottom current and poorer visibility demand precise slack-water timing. Built in 1910 by Swan Hunter, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 81.1 metres long. Boat dive from Dungarvan. War grave.

There is truly nothing else like HMS M2 anywhere in the world. Originally completed in 1919 as a submarine monitor carrying a massive 12-inch gun, she was converted in 1927 into the world's first undersea aircraft carrier, fitted with a watertight hangar and catapult for a tiny Parnall Peto floatplane. On 26 January 1932, during a routine exercise off Portland, water flooded through the hangar and she went down with all 60 hands. The salvage investigation found those hangar doors standing open — a haunting detail that has fuelled debate ever since. She rests upright and intact at around 33 metres in Lyme Bay, her 90-metre hull still unmistakably that of a submarine, the cylindrical hangar forward of the conning tower instantly recognisable. As a designated war grave she demands the utmost respect, but for those qualified to make the dive, she offers a genuinely unique encounter with a one-of-a-kind vessel.

Twenty-five bars of gold remain unaccounted for. Between 1917 and 1924, Royal Navy salvage divers recovered 3,186 of the 3,211 gold ingots carried by the SS Laurentic -- 43 tonnes of bullion worth GBP 5 million at the time, financing British war purchases in North America. The White Star Line passenger liner, converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser, struck two mines laid by U-80 off Fanad Head on 25 January 1917, sinking with the loss of 354 lives in temperatures of minus 9 degrees Celsius. The wreck at approximately 40 metres off Lough Swilly is heavily collapsed from both natural deterioration and years of intensive salvage. A prominent upright deck gun sits among the tangled wreckage and serves as the key landmark for divers. Part of the extraordinary concentration of wrecks off Malin Head that makes Donegal a premier technical dive destination.

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.

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.

Visibility can exceed 40 metres here -- some of the clearest water on the planet, thanks to the rock and shale seabed off the Donegal coast. SM U-89 sits at approximately 62 metres depth, 25 miles off Malin Head, remarkably well preserved with deck guns at both bow and stern and torpedoes still in storage. She surfaced just 200 yards ahead of the cruiser HMS Roxburgh on 12 February 1918. The cruiser rammed the conning tower without hesitation, sending U-89 to the bottom with all 43 crew. Large cod, pollock, and conger eels patrol the wreck. Diving is from specialist charter boats out of Malin Head using trimix, with bottom times of around 30 minutes and total run times of 85 minutes. Designated war grave.

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.

No distress signal. No survivors. No conclusive explanation. HMS Viknor vanished off Tory Island on 13 January 1915 with all 295 hands -- one of the worst Royal Navy losses off Ireland in World War I. Originally built as RMS Atrato in 1888, she was later sold and renamed The Viking for use as a cruise ship, then requisitioned by the Admiralty in late 1914 and sent to war. The cause of her loss was never determined, though the SMS Berlin minefield -- which also claimed HMS Audacious and SS Manchester Commerce -- is the prime suspect. The wreck was finally located in 2006 by the Irish survey vessel Celtic Explorer at 85 metres depth, 18 kilometres west of Tory Island. An extreme technical dive in exposed Atlantic conditions. Designated war grave.

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.