HMS Audacious was sank off Tory Island in 1914.
SHEEPHAVEN SUB AQUA CLUB NOTES.
31st January 2016.
For a few divers following on from this basic introduction to active diving over a number of years and further courses will bring them to a level of technical diving that may allow them to dive on one of the most iconic sites in European waters, the wreck of HMS Audacious.
HMS Audacious was sunk on the 27th October 1914, 17 miles north east of Tory Island and now lies at a depth of 66 metres, well outside the range of Extended Range Divers, who have a maximum depth of 50 metres.
When the Audacious sunk she was the pride of the British fleet and had never been tested in battle, she had a displacement of 23,400 tons, was 598 feet long and 89 foot wide – nearly 2 football pitches in length.
Her 4 steam turbines produced 31,000 hp and propelled her 900 crew at a speed of 21 knots through 4 propellers. The Audacious had 10 x 13.5 inch guns carried in 5 turrets and was heavily armoured above the waterline with 12 inch hardened steel, while under the waterline it was 8 inches thick.
The reduced level of underwater armouring was a design feature to allow her greater speed but limited her resistance to the mine that she struck and ultimately led to her sinking, despite assistance rendered by the White Star liner the Olympic and other ships that raced to her aid.
Remarkably all the crew were safely removed from the Audacious but eventually she rolled over and sank, where she remains today upside down on a gavel seabed of the Donegal coast.
Such dives to the like of HMS Audacious requires the use of special gas mixes, which reduce the consequence of nitrogen in normal air by the introduction of inert gases to dilute its effects. Technical diving requires further training over and above what is normally acquired by recreational divers, but it allows the diver to visit wreck sites that only a select few have seen and it all starts with a Sheephaven SAC Trainee course.
Sheephaven divers managed to get into the water on Sunday morning between the ravages of storms Gertrude and Henry, with another big turnout of snorkelers in PortnaBlagh harbour, led this Sunday by Ryan Ward.
The sea state of the Donegal coast was generally very poor; pushing a swell down Sheephaven Bay and towards the harbour but nonetheless there was still sufficient protection for the club members in the water.
For some of Sheephaven SAC’s newest trainees it was an opportunity to see what goes on at a Sunday morning snorkel and join everyone afterwards for breakfast in Dunfanaghy.
The new Sheephaven trainees have commenced their course of lectures with an Introduction into Diving, which will explain how the training course is delivered and that the instructors are trained to international standards. This first lecture also explains how Sheephaven SAC is one of 80 clubs that makes up the Irish Underwater Council, which is itself affiliated to a wider European structure called CMAS.
Other lectures the trainees will attend over the coming weeks include Buoyancy, CPR, Decompression, Dive Physics, Dive Tables, Effects of Pressure, Equipment, Hand Signals and Out of Air.
During the trainees practical in-water element of the course there will be two general sets of exercises, starting with 9 exercises in the Snorkel section followed after that with a further 11 in the Scuba section, all conducted in the safety and comfort of the Mevagh Dive Centre 3m pool.
At all stages the trainees will receive one to one tuition with the club instructors, who will ensure that the trainee’s safety is the first priority. As the exercises are completed the trainees will demonstrate what they have learned and over the following weeks will work up their skill levels and water fitness to such a level that they will be taken to the open water and get their first experience of scuba diving in Donegal waters.
For a few divers following on from this basic introduction to active diving over a number of years and further courses will bring them to a level of technical diving that may allow them to dive on one of the most iconic sites in European waters, the wreck of HMS Audacious.
HMS Audacious was sunk on the 27th October 1914, 17 miles north east of Tory Island and now lies at a depth of 66 metres, well outside the range of Extended Range Divers, who have a maximum depth of 50 metres.
When the Audacious sunk she was the pride of the British fleet and had never been tested in battle, she had a displacement of 23,400 tons, was 598 feet long and 89 foot wide – nearly 2 football pitches in length.
Her 4 steam turbines produced 31,000 hp and propelled her 900 crew at a speed of 21 knots through 4 propellers. The Audacious had 10 x 13.5 inch guns carried in 5 turrets and was heavily armoured above the waterline with 12 inch hardened steel, while under the waterline it was 8 inches thick.
The reduced level of underwater armouring was a design feature to allow her greater speed but limited her resistance to the mine that she struck and ultimately led to her sinking, despite assistance rendered by the White Star liner the Olympic and other ships that raced to her aid.
Remarkably all the crew were safely removed from the Audacious but eventually she rolled over and sank, where she remains today upside down on a gavel seabed of the Donegal coast.
Such dives to the like of HMS Audacious requires the use of special gas mixes, which reduce the consequence of nitrogen in normal air by the introduction of inert gases to dilute its effects. Technical diving requires further training over and above what is normally acquired by recreational divers, but it allows the diver to visit wreck sites that only a select few have seen and it all starts with a Sheephaven SAC Trainee course.
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