This wreck is at approx 28m and is about 1hr ¼ from Haslar marina. The sub was originally 183ft long by 19ft. The coning tower of the sub has broken off and is now resting on the sea bed on the starboard side. It is very obvious when you see it. In this area of the ull where it meets the sea bed there is a large Conger eel (and I mean large). About 10m aft of where the conning tower would have been the sub is broken in 2 I think the other part of the sub is some distance away. We had 8m viz when we dived it and it did look as if there was a large dark object in the distance. It is possible to see inside for quite some way depending on how bright your torch is. Around this area in some of the cracks and crevices there are several very large Conger eels and crabs. It is also easy to see in this area the stern torpedo tubes as they are now exposed. Swimming along the port side of the sub towards the bow there are places where the outer pressure hull has collapsed and it is possible to see inside. This is also true for the area where the conning tower used to be. From these views it is possible to see how cramped it would have been inside the sub.
As you reach the bows of the UB there is quite a lot of damage again. This again allows for an easy view inside the sub.
The gun is no longer on the sub and is probably on the sea bed. During the dive we didn't come accross it.
On the whole this is a very easy dive with plenty to look at. We did not search to try and locate the other part of the sub but it is probably quite close by. There is a lot of history to this wreck and a tragic story behind the loss of life when she was fatally damaged. UB81 is a war grave and should be dived accordingly.
The Story
of the sinking
UB 81 was a 647 ton UBIII Class German submarine built in 1917. She left Zeebrugge
under the command of Rhienhold Saltzwedel to attack shipping in the English
channel, on the 2nd December 1917 she struck a mine. UB 81 quickly sank to the
bottom with the stern flooded and no matter what the commander did she held
fast. It was then decided to move all heavy equipment to the stern and blow
the forward ballast tanks to try and raise the bow above the water level. This
would then allow some of the thinner members of the crew to crawl out of the
torpedo tubes. As this was carried out then the bow did raise up. As the first
crew member inched himself up the torpedo tube the tube was opened. As He stuck
his head out in to the fresh air he realised that the opening to the tube was
barley 18inches above the water line. Several of the crew managed to get to
the outside in this way but being wary that the added weight on the bows could
force the opening to the torpedo tubes below the water level no further crewman
attempted to exit the sub until help arrived. This soon came but as one of the
rescue ships came in closer she accidentally knocked into the sub. This caused
the bow tubes to go below the water level and water flooded in sending the U
Boat to the bottom. There were no more survivors of UB81. Of the 34 crew only
7 survived.
UBIII Class U-Boat
The wreck as it is today
