HMS Dunraven 1917
Marker: recorded wreck position (First World War).
Key facts
| Name | HMS Dunraven | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1917 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | First World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | Q-ship | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom | Wikidata P137 operator → P17 country |
| Operator | Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | English Channel | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | France | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 51 km from land |
| Position | 48.6050, -5.4100 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
HMS Dunraven was a Q-ship of the Royal Navy during World War I.
On 8 August 1917, 130 miles southwest of Ushant in the Bay of Biscay, disguised as the collier Boverton and commanded by Gordon Campbell, VC, Dunraven spotted UC-71, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Reinhold Saltzwedel. Saltzwedel believed the disguised ship was a merchant vessel. The U-boat submerged and closed with Dunraven before surfacing astern at 11:43 am and opening fire at long range. Dunraven made smoke and sent off a panic party (a small number of men who "abandon ship" during an attack to continue the impersonation of a merchant).
Shells began hitting Dunraven, detonating her depth charges and setting her stern afire. Her crew remained hidden letting the fires burn. Then a 4-inch (102 mm) gun and crew were blown away revealing Dunraven's identity as a warship, and UC-71 submerged. A second "panic party" abandoned ship. Dunraven was hit by a torpedo. A third "panic party" went over the side, leaving only two guns manned. UC-71 surfaced, shelled Dunraven and again submerged. Campbell replied with two torpedoes that missed, and around 3 pm, the undamaged U-boat left that area.
Location
- Recorded position: 48.6050, -5.4100 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: English Channel
- Nearest coast: France
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article HMS Dunraven (revision 1320260385), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- U-629 1944 · 4 km
- SM UB-36 1917 · 17 km
- U-821 1944 · 19 km
- Olympic Bravery 1976 · 27 km
- U-740 1944 · 38 km
- HMS Arethusa 40 km
Browse more: Europe wrecks · wrecks off France · English Channel · First World War