[PIC GALLERY] Wrecks and Relics

Sea Wreckage - WW2 Japanese plane

 
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ilya_ff said:
July 18, 2014. Kildin Island, Barents Sea. Sherman tank with a transport ship sunk during the Second World War.
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Sherman
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The Sherman was part of a cargo of 7679 tons, which also included 6000 tons of ammunition, foodstuffs and other vehicles which was sent to the bottom of the Barents sea after the American Steam merchant "Thomas Donaldson" was attacked by a german U-968 on 20 March 1945.
 
Remaining of Sherman M4A2 on Betio, Tarawa.

After the island was secured and most combatant units had left Betio, huge quantities of material were left behind, including eight medium tanks from C Company, I Corps Medium Tank Battalion. Six more tanks were later carried back to Hawaii for repair, and two were left permanently on the island. One, a total wreck, was reportedly used for construction fill.

One tank, name COBRA, was lost in the water on D+1 when the Tank Commander, 1st Lt Richard Sloat, was ordered to reduce enemy strongpoints located at the junction between Red Beach Two and Red Beach One.
Due to casualties lying on the beach, the tank had to approach "the Pocket" by driving in the water, parallel to the beach.

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Above and below: Cobra from two different vantage points amidst the carnage of the fighting.
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After engaging the enemy, the tank returned east, toward the main pier.
On her way back COBRA fell into an underwater shellhole that drowned her engine and shorted out the electrical system, and she was abandoned by her crew.

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Tilted sideways into a crater and lying sideways to the beach, it was impossible for the Marines to retrieve her since C Company’s specialized tank recovery vehicle had been left behind because of a shortage of shipping space. Not even Navy Construction Battalion heavy bulldozers could budge the abandoned tank, and it remained on the reef, abandoned by more 70 years.

Cobra, today...

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from:
tarawaontheweb
tanksontarawa
 
During the Operation Weserübung (the Germany´s assault on Denmark and Norway in the WW2), Ju 52 were used to bring in supplies during the fighting around Narvik. In one of these supply's operation, aircraft of this type fliying low, were spotted by British naval units patrolling the fjord, some planes were shot down by anti-aircraft fire. The remaining planes were forced to land on a snow covered frozen lake without any ground control. On 13 april 1940, this aircraft with 10 other Ju 52, landed on the Hartvigvann-lake north of Narvik, Norway. Ten aircraft sank when the ice melted. Between 1983 and 1986 four of these aircraft were recovered and later restored. Three of them are still in the water and one lies very easily accessible near the eastern shore of the lake in a depth of only a few meters.
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The U-Boot 2511 was finished and launched too late to see any combat. She was the first Type XXI ‘electro’ U-Boat on active service.
After training with 31st U-boat Flotilla, U-2511 was transferred to 11th U-boat Flotilla at Bergen, Norway, for front-line service on 15 March 1945. On the evening of 30 April (coincidentally the date of Hitler's death), U-2511 set out from Bergen on her first and last patrol. She arrived at Bergen on 5 May 1945. Mid June 1945 U-2511 was departed from Bergen to arrive eventually at Lisahally, Northern Ireland on 21 June for Operation Deadlight (code name for the scuttling of most of the unwanted german U-Boats which the allies got their hands on after the end of WW2. The U-boat was scuttled on 7 Jan 1946 at 7:40 pm in position 55°33′N 07°38′W. She was sunk by gunfire after her towing cable parted.
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The wreck lies at a depth 69 metres (226 ft). She had been visited by divers same times and circa 2012 for 'Dig WW2 with Dan Snow', revealing she is largely intact except for a large blast hole caused by the shellfire that sank her.
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A little Pearl Harbor perspective. Can't visit the Arizona without climbing around on the Missouri.

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