The wreck of a German mine-laying submarine sunk off the Yorkshire coast during the closing stages of the First World War has been protected by the UK Government on the advice of conservationists Historic England.
Commissioned by the Imperial German Navy in 1916, UC-70 conducted 10 patrols and sank or damaged 40 ships before being bombed and depth-charged on 28 August 1918 with the loss of all hands.
The U-boat had sailed from the occupied Belgian port of Zeebrugge a week earlier to lay mines on the North Sea convoy route between England and the neutral Netherlands.
She was sighted and attacked off Whitby by a bomber from Britain’s recently-formed Royal Air Force, and then depth-charged by a Royal Navy destroyer.
UC-70 belonged to the UC II class of submarines, a type estimated to have sunk more than 1,800 Allied vessels.
The submarine was discovered as part of Historic England’s work to research and survey First World War submarine losses within UK territorial waters around England.
Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, said: “The importance of the UC-70 lies in its historical interest and the vulnerability of its component parts as well as its sensitivity as a war grave.”
Also in Centenary News:
Historic U-boat wreck photos released for Centenary.
War Beneath the Waves – the story of Germany’s U-boats in Flanders.
Source: Historic England
Images © Historic England/Crown Copyright
Posted by: CN Editorial Team