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![]() Thousands of men died on both sides as the battleships reigned down huge explosive shells on each other from guns such as these.Īs time runs out, we head towards the upturned main hull of the ship, a common way for battleships to settle due to the weight of the guns and deck armour. This 23,400-ton ship had ten of these main guns and within two years of its loss, the true horror of dreadnought-to-dreadnought combat was seen as her sister ships clashed toe-to-toe with the German High Seas Fleet at the Battle of Jutland. We next head toward one of the main turrets, whose two 13.5 inch /343 mm guns are still attached. The devastation near the detached bow tells the tale of the ship’s final moments and in the debris field we find a solitary 4-inch/101mm secondary gun. Despite such protection, this ship actually met its end in October 1914 at the hands of a mine laid by the liner SS Berlin, which triggered a massive explosion that sent her to the seabed, 65 metres below. A "super dreadnought", Audacious was an evolution of the original dreadnought design first seen in 1906 that had rendered all other battleships obsolete and fuelled the arms race between Great Britain and Germany.Īfter the long descent, we drop towards the giant barbette that once protected one of the five main gun turrets with 25mm of armour. ![]() ![]() In the second of four mini-stories we look at HMS Audacious, the first British battleship to be lost in World War 1. ![]() The deep crystal-clear waters off Malin Head in Ireland were once a navigation route for wartime convoys and after two World Wars the seabed is now a graveyard for super-size wrecks. ![]() Malin Head: The Giant’s Graveyard (2) JPart 2: HMS Audacious ![]()
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