SS Suevic 1942
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).
Key facts
| Name | SS Suevic | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1942 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Second World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | ship | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Scuttled | Wikidata P793 significant event: scuttling |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom, Norway | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | White Star Line | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | Kattegat | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Sweden | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 24 km from land |
| Position | 58.1583, 11.1944 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
SS Suevic was a steamship built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line. Suevic was the fifth and last of the Jubilee-class ocean liners, built specifically to service the Liverpool-Cape Town-Sydney route, along with her sister ship Runic. In 1907, she was wrecked off the south coast of England, but in the largest rescue of its kind, all passengers and crew were saved. The ship herself was deliberately broken in two, and a new bow was attached to the salvaged stern portion. Later serving as a Norwegian whaling factory ship carrying the name Skytteren, she was scuttled off the Swedish coast in 1942 to prevent her capture by ships of Nazi Germany.
Diving & visiting
The bow section was badly damaged, but not irreparably so, and the rest of the ship, including the boilers and engines, was not damaged at all. It was determined that if the ship could be lightened, the tide would then lift her off the bottom and she could be sailed to port. With this in mind, three days later, on 20 March, the cargo was unloaded into small coastal freighters. Initially, it appeared that the attempt would succeed but, a week later, after various other vessels had attempted to pull Suevic off the rocks, the weather deteriorated and waves drove her farther onto shore, from whence she could not be moved.
With the bow now irretrievably stuck, and the threat of even worse weather coming which could completely destroy the ship, many experienced salvage men believed that the only course of action was to…
The wreck of Skytteren lies at a depth of around 70 metres (230 ft) at the position (58°09′30″N 11°11′40″E) lying starboard side up with her bow facing to the west. Skytteren was carrying a large amount of oil in her tanks when she sank. For several years after 2005, oil was observed to be leaking to the surface from the decaying wreck, leading to concerns about the potential environmental threat.
Location
- Recorded position: 58.1583, 11.1944 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Kattegat
- Nearest coast: Sweden
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 SS Suevic (revision 1379669496), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Salvage”, “Wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- U-1065 1945 · 21 km
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- MV Langeland 2009 · 67 km
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Browse more: Europe wrecks · wrecks off Sweden · Kattegat · Second World War