WW2 British sub HMS Tarpon found off Jutland

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WW2 British sub HMS Tarpon found off Jutland

March 20, 2016 - 16:18
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The wreck was found and identified in the Danish part of the North Sea, near the fishing port of Thyborøn, by a Danish commercial diver, Gert Normann, from the company JD Contractors in March 2016.

HMS Tarpon left Portsmouth on 5 April 1940 and ordered to Norway. On the 10th, Tarpon was ordered to take up a new position but was never heard from again. Postwar German records showed that Tarpon had attacked the Q-ship Schiff 40/Schürbek, but her first torpedoes had missed. A sustained counterattack that went on most of the morning finally brought wreckage to the surface and it became clear the submarine had been sunk. All 59 crew members were probably killed by the blast wave when a depth charge hit right behind the conning tower.

Gert Normann, who accidentally found the wreck while undertaking another enterprise, calls the find unusual.

"It is an unusual find and in particular so close to Jutland. It is a quite special sensation to see the wreck after its dramatic demise." Normann told the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten.

Inaccurate positions

That 76 years should pass before the wreck was located is down to misleading information about the submarine's location, says Normann. "There are many listings of positions where submarines sank, but they are very inaccurate and many are completely misleading," he said, adding that he expected HMS Tarpon to be in very deep waters of Skagerrak.

The submarine is considered a war grave, so no divers should try to penetrate into the submarine. Instead, it is allowed to lie as an untouched tomb while the hull rusts away.

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