Irish Wrecks On-Line - UC-42 (No. 948c)

Diving Information:

Lies 5.5km South East of Roches Point.
She is on her port side in a North-West / South-East direction, with bow to the South-East.
The outer hull is gone but the port saddle tank remains.
The keel aft area is badly damaged due to the depth charges.
Remains of conning tower lie on the port side.
A 6m x 600mm torpedo tube lies in the sand near the front.
There are still the remains of some of her 18 mines are still onboard.
Warning!!! This is a protected wreck.
A licence to dive the site can be obtained from: http://www.archaeology.ie/Licenses/DiveSurveyLicence
Best dived just before High or Low Water.

Historical Information:

Built by the A.G. Vulcan shipyard, Hamburg, and went into service on 18 November 1916.
Measuring 45m long, 5m wide and 3.7m high she had a a deck gun, seven torpedoes (two tubes at the bow and one at the stern), six mine chutes carried a total of 18 mines.
It belonged to the UCII class of German U-boats that could attain a surface speed of 11.7 knots with a range of 9,410 nautical miles.
She was manned by 26 or 27 crew members, commanded by Oberleutnant H.A. Muller.
Was accidently sunk on 10 September 1917 while laying mines across the mouth of Cork Harbour.
The U-boat’s loss went unnoticed until October 31st when a trail of oil floating on the sea surface just south of Roches Point was detected.
Depth charges were detonated and divers found the wreck on 2nd November.
Thereafter, the wreck was "forgotten about" until she was re-discovered 93 years later by Cork based Sovereign Dive Club.

UC-42

© by kind permission of wrecksite.eu web site

Click HERE for INFOMAR* Side-Scan image

Source Publications:

*"Irish Wrecks Database"*	by	Roy Stokes & Liam Dowling

*"Shipwreck Index of Ireland"*	by	Richard & Bridget Larn
		*Lloyd's Register - Fairplay Ltd 2002 - ISBN: 1900839970*
*"Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast 932 - 1997"*	by	Dr. Edward J. Bourke
		Edward J. Bourke 1998 - ISBN: 0952302713
*"Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast 1105 - 1993"*	by	Dr. Edward J. Bourke
		**Edward J. Bourke 1994 - ISBN: 0952302705**
*"The Forgotten U-Boat"*	by	BSAC's "Scuba" Magazine article
		*Philip Johnston April 2018*

Other Sources:

**source - Geological Survey of Ireland*		Internet (2020)
*Shipwrecks of Cork Harbour Web Site*		Internet (2006)

Last update - 19-Nov-2020