WWI Wrecks

Imperial Russian submarine Akula (Russian: Акула - Shark) and armoured cruiser Ryurik, 1913

WW1 Russian submarine located by Estonian divers

The 400-ton Russian submarine, commissioned in 1911, was the biggest in the pre-revolutionary Russian navy. During the first world war, she served in the Baltic Fleet making 16 patrols and unsuccessfully attacked the German coastal defence ship SMS Beowulf.

In November 1915 during her 17th patrol, she struck a mine and sank near Hiiumaa with the loss of all 35 seamen and came to rest at a depth of about 30 meters.

British Submarine A.1, 1906
British Submarine A.1, 1906

Visiting the HMS m/A1 Submarine Protected Wreck Diver Trail

The project was launched by the English Heritage as part of an initiative to create up to a dozen trails by 2018 for historic wreck sites from the 17th to 20th centuries. Trails are already running on three sunken warships including HMS Colossus in 1787, which off sank off the Isles of Scilly.



The Coronation sunk off the coast of Plymouth in 1691 and the Norman’s Bay sank during the Battle of Beachy Head in 1690 in Sussex.

  U-26 was lost with all hands in August 1915
U-26 was lost with all hands in August 1915

Finnish divers locate intact WW1 German submarine in the Baltic

At the beginning of World War I the German submarine U-26 disappeared without a trace.

On October 11, 1914, she sank the Russian cruiser Pallada inflicting the first loss of the war on the Russian navy. The boat did not return from sea in August 1915 and is assumed to have struck a mine or suffered a technical failure off the coast of Finland.

The Finnish group of divers who goes by the name Badewanne states on their website: