Return to the U90 July 24, 2006
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : Dive Reports, UK diving, Wreck Diving , trackback
One of the finest dives I have done was last year from Selsey when we dived the U90 as part of the YD selsey gig. With fantastic vis and an intact wreck it was a truly great days diving. Having had such a great dive last year the next time I dived it would have to be exceptional in order to compare. Whilst the vis was not as good as last year the wreck was. After the dive today Simon commented that the poorer vis meant he concentrated more on the wreck, and this was also the case for me today.
The day started with an early wake up call, ropes off at 9am meant an 8am meet and the transfer of kit from the car to the boat via the trolley system in operation at Haslar marina.
Once on board Pete gave his customary jovial safety briefing and we headed out, by now with the weather really hotting up and the promise of another great trip on the U90. The only worry we had Matt Binnie on board who has failed numerous times to get on this wreck (and a few other submarines in the area), so much so that he had earned the nickname Jonah. Today was the day for him to dispel that nickname.
Our in water time was 10.50. The plan was send two divers in and make sure the shot was on the wreck as U90 lies with the tide and being basically a cylinder notoriously difficult to shot, even for the Queen of the Shot - Lou. Paul and were earmarked to go in first, unfortunately Pauls twinset took it’s own dive off the kitting up bench as he was helping me with my kit (sorry Paul) so we were relegated to the third pair in as he changed over first stages. Once in the tide was still pulling a bit but under strict instructions not to pull down the shot we finned like crazy to keep with it and descending arriving on the wreck at 29m. The shot had landed in one of a couple of holes in the hull of the wreck and was jammed fast, there was no way that it was coming out, so Lou scored a perfect hit with that one….. 
After getting to the wreck I needed a moment to recover, we had finned very hard to get down and I was chugging away at my air. Once composed we headed towards the stern and the props. As I eluded to earlier, the vis wasn’t as clear as last year but it was still 8- 10m and so we had a great view of the U-boat. My recollections of last years dive were mainly of the conning tower and the guns but this year it was the props. As we moved around the props it was fantastic to see them intact and so pronounced. 
We dropped to the seabed and underneath the underside of the U-boat to get a good look at the prop shaft and starboard prop. The way she lies makes for a small cavern underneath the stern and a perfect swimthrough. Unfortunately I have not mastered the strobe and the pictures from underneath did not turn out so I will just have to go back and try again!
From the props we headed over the stern and along the deck underneath the conning tower and guns to the bow which is broken and quite damaged, this is most likely the point in which it broke it’s tow that caused her to sink at the end of the war. From the broken bow we went back along the decks past the first gun and then on to the conning tower this time going over it and drifted gently with the tide back to the stern. Paul sent up the bag after 40 very pleasurable minutes on the wreck. We surfaced just after 65 minutes.
Comments»
Excellent report….for a ’son of a pikey’
Next time l’ll treat the death box a bit better and maybe l’ll reach the bottom of the shot.