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Yes, the Japanese were far ahead of us in some aspects, like the Long Lance torpedo and their range finding optics. But they were far behind in other ways, eg., their ASW sonar was poor, a basic copy of an early U.S. version. They didn’t develop radar for naval gunnery. Their aggressive focus on winning Mahan’s ‘decisive naval battle’ blinded them to the fact that they would need to protect their supply shipping over the vast expanses of their Pacific empire - they started the war with only 2 proper convoy escort vessels. So like every war, there were pro’s and con’s on both sides.

Thanks, Davie. I wrote a chapter about finding the SS Greenawn in my book The Darkness Below - so you can follow in there the whole story about stumbling on this uncharted wreck when we were actually looking for a U-boat. We were able to identify her initially due to her cargo of bagged cement, now set hard - and that led me to the Admiralty records where she was listed as Missing in Action - no one ever knew where she had been sunk, there was no distress call, no survivors, no wreckage - nothing. Admiralty records revealed that when she was lost, she had a crew of 12 + 2 DEMS gunners. I managed to trace the crew list, which listed name and address of all 12 crew, some from Peterhead and Buckie. I never did find the details of the 2 DEMS gunners - so you've added to that history now. There is no fixed DEMS gun, so your relative would have been using a machine gun or rifle I suspect. All the best. Rod

@@rodmacdonald6396 further info I found on another Google search for SS Greenawn: “WEIR, David, Private, Army, 3194556 (King's Own Scottish Borderers), killed [PlyM] (GREENAWN) WILKIE, George, Lance Corporal, Army, 3193929 (King's Own Scottish Borderers), killed [PlyM] (GREENAWN) Possibly lost onboard S.S. Greenawn, which was lost the North Sea with 12 crew, probably after being attacked by German aircraft.” By coincidence, the Greenawn was a Lloyd’s Register classed ship, I work for Lloyd’s Register. I found the last class inspection entry in our class library records.

@@rodmacdonald6396 info I found from another website. “WEIR, David, Private, Army, 3194556 (King's Own Scottish Borderers), killed [PlyM] (SS Greenawn) WILKIE, George, Lance Corporal, Army, 3193929 (King's Own Scottish Borderers), killed [PlyM] (SS Greenawn) Possibly lost onboard S.S. Greenawn, which was lost in the North Sea with 12 crew, probably after being attacked by German aircraft.” My great uncles military records back up part of that. I also found the last Lloyd’s Register (whom I actually work for now) ship survey, in the archive library.

Cheers Davie, thanks for the info.

Excellent, thanks! The Rio is a special wreck indeed. All the best. Rod

Hi - kedging out is fairly common in sailing, you see folk rowing out in tenders with their anchor aboard to pull the yacht in a certain direction by winching the anchor line inboard. Likewise, if a ship in danger of sinking is being run aground bow onto a beach, the skipper can drop the kedge anchor at the stern on the way in, and when ready, he can winch in the anchor, which will have the effect of pulling the ship off the beach backwards. The famous west coast wreck of SS Shuna did exactly that as her bow was run ashore to stop her sinking. But she was too badly damaged and sunk stern first into deeper water.

Hi - thanks for the comment, I think you’re right. This area is known to have been a dumping ground and has widely dispersed artefacts on the seabed. There’s an aerial torpedo nearby, a section of fuselage from another plane, an upside down section of a Judy, another tail section, bomb trolleys etc. It is thought that during the post war clean up of the southern part of Moen Island, a lot of nearby war debris was gathered up and dumped in this area. Much remains to be found as most folks understandably dive the famous wrecks, and the dumping grounds don’t get so much attention. All the best. Rod

Torpedo tubes are usually the 1st thing a salvor takes (other than props) - they are 13-20 tons of non ferrous metal and very valuable

Thank you!

Welcome aboard! I believe U 212 has been dived and lies in 54 metres of water, a very pleasant depth for todays tek divers. All the best. Rod

Thank you for this comment! I specialise in shipwrecks, not plane wrecks - and after a lifetime of looking at this EMILY in a certain way, you've just literally turned this upside down for me - and for the Truk diving community who have also thought the same for a very long time. I think you are completely correct - and it makes so much sense now, as I could never understand how this nose section came to be so different from the rest of the plane. Many thanks for setting me straight.

@@rodmacdonald6396 no worries I’m so glad I could help! :D

Thanks for the feedback! I knew the salvor who owned and worked the wrecks in the 1970's - and he had it in mind then to lift one of the Bayern turrets. Being used to big projects, he didn't think it would be that hard to do - just dig the turret out, strop it and lift - not a big lift for today's kit, and would have made an amazing thing to see if it was displayed near Stromness. It would never happen nowadays - for economic and social reasons, so they will remain in place as interesting dives for a very long time. I

​@@rodmacdonald6396 Hello Mr Macdonald, many thanks for your detailed reply, I was surprised and delighted! 😊 Your story is really very interesting, thank you again!🥰 As the turrets of the S.M.S. Bayern are so exposed, it is very tempting to salvage them. But these things are really very heavy. 😒 There are also the 12-inch turrets of the " three kings", but unfortunately the remains of the hulls lie above them.😐 (Yes, and 12 inches would probably be too small for some British visitors like "Drachinifel", bigger is better😁😉). But no government would finance something like that, that's for sure. I was thinking more of "eccentric" billionaires like "Elon Musk" giving it to the Orkneys and Scotland. 🤔 Well, maybe in the future.🙂 I hope you continue to enjoy your diving and filming!😃 Kind regards!

In such a protected lagoon, as this wreck sits upright, it will be around for a good while yet. Wrecks on their beam ends tend to degrade more quickly as not how they were designed.

I was friendly with the salvor who owned the German ships in the ‘70’s and who took off the armour belts, torpedo tubes etc. He was a commercial diver - and had firm plans to lift the turrets. He didn’t think it would be too big a task to remove the encasing mud, strop, break free and lift. He reckoned they were 750 tons each, an easy lift for today’s equipment.

Thanks for the sub!

Thank you kindly - I try!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Cheers, ole buddy!

Indeed, much work has been done in recent years by Project Recover in the lagoon. I came back from Chuuk a couple of weeks ago, and heard there that the TF58 plane that hit the forward holds of Aikoku Maru, and was taken down in the subsequent huge secondary munitions explosion that almost vaporised the foreship, has been located in the last few weeks.

Who knows what happened - but they are all gone now, 80 years later. They may have been robbed out from the wreck once diving started in the ‘70’s - or perhaps the plane survived the war, was stripped out ashore and then dumped in the sea. Lost in the mists of time ..

Glad you liked it!

Glad you liked it!

Thankfully I’m not claustrophobic- and yes, it is tight and dark! No light from outside comes inside, so you’re reliant on your torches. All the best.

Never had cause to dive royal archer - I believe it was pretty shallow and as a result was dispersed by RN and salvaged in the ‘70’s

@@rodmacdonald6396 as far as I know all cargo still there moter bikes and two trucks I belive 👍👍👍😜🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🦕🦄😁🤞✌️

Hi - I haven’t been back to Truk since I shot that footage due to the pandemic - so no more progress made. I did get the kanji on the switching board makers plate translated, so I know that it was made by Kawasaki but that doesn’t take us very far. I’m going to give all the info I have and put a photo of the plate in the 2nd edition of Dive Truk Lagoon that will publish toward the end of this year. Then hopefully someone likeminded will take it on further and get an ID. All the best from Scotland. Rod

@@rodmacdonald6396 Hey Rod, Hi again from Aus - helpful this may be or not - if you have any Kanji you been assistance with let me know. I do have a little experience with the language - rusty now but may be able to assist with Kanji. Stay Safe, Di

Very kind of you to offer. If you can go through the Contact form in my website www.rod-Macdonald.co.uk we can look into this a bit further

Shelled and then rammed by British destroyer. Out of a crew of 29, only 8+ 2 officers got out alive. The others are likely still inside this poignant war grave.