The SS Thistlegorm, a British Merchant Navy ship, sank after it was bombed by two German planes in 1941.
The rusting 128-metre-long vessel has lain 30 metres beneath the surface of the Red Sea for 73 years.
Trapped beneath the waves is the remains of the well-preserved wreck which still contains historic vehicles such as Bedford trucks, armoured vehicles, Norton 16H, BSA M20 motorcycles, and other classic British vehicles which were lost when the cargo vessel carrying them was sunk in the Second World War.
The SS Thistlegorm, built in 1940 in Sunderland, set sail for the last time from Glasgow on June 2, 1941.
After the ship refuelled in Cape Town, the convoy was supposed to continue on to Egypt via the Suez Canal. However, the ship could not pass through the canal as there was a collision further ahead.
The SS Thistlegorm moved to Safe Anchorage F, near Ras Muhammad in Egypt, in September. The ship remained there until October 6 when it was bombed while still at anchor.
At the time German intelligence believed that a ship carrying extra allied troops was approaching Egypt.
Two Heinkel HE-111 aircraft were dispatched by the Germans from Crete with the mission to find and destroy the troop carrier.
The search failed but on the way back the planes targeted the vessels anchored at Safe Anchorage F, dropping two bombs on the Thistlegorm, which was the largest ship in the convoy.
The ship sank following an explosion in the main hold which was triggered when ammunition on board ignited.
In total four members of the merchant crew perished, along with five members of the supplementary Navy crew serving on the ship.
The wreck was lost to the depths of the sea until it was discovered in 1956 by aquatic explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau who wrote about diving the wreck in part of his book, The Living Sea.
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source https://mobildanmotorbekas.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-wreck-was-lost-to-depths-of-sea.html
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