British T Class Submarine

The wreck of HMS Tarpon, a British submarine sunk by a German Q-ship during World War II, was discovered last March in the North Sea, near Thyborøn, Denmark. The wreck was discovered in 40 meters of water by a Danish commercial diver and museum owner, Gert Normann Andersen, and Innes McCartney, a British marine archaeologist. Recently, DR3, a Danish television company broadcast a two hour long program featuring live images of the wreck.

On April 10, 1940, the Royal Navy submarine HMS Tarpon attacked what appeared to be a German merchant ship. According to German naval records, the submarine fired two torpedoes, which missed. The German ship was Q-ship Schiff 40/Schürbek, an armed vessel disguised as a merchantman. The Q ship used onboard sonar and attacked HMS Tarpon with multiple salvos of depth charges, which sank the submarine. Germany employed at least 13 Q-ships, while great Britain deployed 9.

HMS Tarpon was a T-class submarine, launched in October 1939. She was 275′ long, wotha beam of 26’6″. Based on the condition of the wreck the divers were able to confirm the German naval reports. Torpedoes had been fired from tow of the four external tubes and they saw severe damage behind the ship’s conning tower consistent with a depth charge attack.

The divers have no plans to return to the wreckage, and Dr Innes wrote on Facebook: ‘It is the grave of 59 submariners and deserves to remain unspoiled. The position will not be divulged.’