A German U-boat sunk off Scotland's coast more than 90 years ago has been discovered by two divers. Jim MacLeod, of Bo'ness, and Martin Sinclair, from Falkirk, found the wreckage of the U12 about 25 miles from Eyemouth at the weekend. They had been looking for the 60-metre U-boat for the past five years. The precise location has now been reported to the German authorities as 19 sailors died in the sinking and relatives will be informed. The site has been declared an official war grave and it will remain untouched. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/7187862.stm
The wreck itself has great historical importance as it was the first submarine to have an aeroplane carried on it's deck for deployment at sea, an unusual concept, which proved to be a limited experiment for this boat. An early WW1 design of submarine, U12 had a two stroke engine running on kerosene (paraffin) driving twin stern propellers. The wreck of the submarine lies in just under 50m depth lying bolt upright on a seabed of fine sand which bounces the light making for year round visibility in the region of 15m. It is believed that this site has not been previously visited by divers. Key identifying features include the two forward and two aft firing torpedo tubes, six conning tower portholes, apparent damage to the port side of the submarine due to the ramming of the boat by HMS Ariel during U12s final engagement. The wreck is a war grave, nineteen German sailors died, there was no disturbance of the site nor the removal of any artefact. Hans Kratzch commanded U12 and went down with his boat. After the engagement U12s conning tower hatch could only partially open, dooming most of the crew from leaving the sinking submarine. There were ten survivours from the other two hatches, these men were picked up by the heavily damaged HMS Ariel, recovering two men despite having considerable bow damage, the other survivors were saved by the rest of the search flotilla. http://www.marinequest.co.uk/
