SMS Thuringen on Google Maps

From the birth of the Dreadnought to the period immediately after the end of World War I.
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Torpedo Bob
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SMS Thuringen on Google Maps

Post by Torpedo Bob »

I think this is the shallow wreck of the dreadnought SMS Thuringen off Gavres, France.

I was just trying to see if I could spot anything in that area but I was surprised by how much it looks like a ship. I'm pretty sure this must be Thuringen, the scale on the map shows the shape has very similar length and beam to the Helgoland class.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... &z=18&om=1
mike1880
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Post by mike1880 »

You mean that 500-foot patch of seaweed amongst all those patches of seaweed?

What makes you think Thuringen was sunk?

Mike
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Torpedo Bob
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Post by Torpedo Bob »

http://www.bobhenneman.info/Thuringenwreck.htm

There's no doubt Thuringen is there, I just wanted to see how much of it was visible from the air.
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Post by mike1880 »

Oh, I see where you're coming from.

Note the hull was broken in two, what remains is broken up by waves, more like 350 feet long and about 200 yards offshore.

Mike
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Torpedo Bob
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Post by Torpedo Bob »

I expected there to be something in the 350' range and initially I was looking further to the southeast but this shape just stuck out.
Visibility seems good in that section, the wreck is so shallow that at low tide some of it sticks out of the water so something has to be visible.
Though there is apparently just 350' of hull left underwater there may be more entrenched in the bottom, protected from gunnery practice or it could just be a big dent caused by the initial scuttling filled with seaweed and debris.

I came across coordinates on a UK diving site, 47 ° 41 ' North - 3 ° 18' West. For some reason Google keeps rounding 41min down to 40min 60sec and 18min down to 17min60sec which comes out as being about 1500 feet SE of the shape but the same distance offshore with nothing visible in the water on that spot.

You'd think that if the wreck has sat there for 70 years being pounded occasionally by French gunnery practice that there would be some pictures from that period showing a gradual decline. The local library or historical society must have a bunch of pictures...[/url]
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