I always enjoy diving wrecks of armed trawlers. They are a convenient size to get round in one dive. They have a nice variety of machinery and armament to look at. All the bits are small enough to fit into a photograph. They are such sturdy little ships designed to fair storms in the worst of weather, so the wrecks remain intact. And I have yet to find one that sank upside down.
The Warwick Deeping off the back of the Isle of Wight is an excellent example. Sunk by gunfire in a night action with German E-boats on 11 October 1940, the Warwick Deeping is upright and pretty much intact in 34 metres. Save for the mast, the highest point of the wreck is the roof of the deck house at just past 30 metres. This was a platform for a twin 0.5-inch machine gun. Railings are intact on the port and aft sides, broken on the starboard side, but more of that later.
Dropping aft to main deck level, the walls of the deckhouse are decayed, the inside filled with debris. As with most channel wrecks, there are a fair number of bib swimming about inside. Behind it the entire ventilation hatch structure for the engine room has fallen onto the top of the engine. One of the hatches is broken to give a limited view inside.
On either side of the deck are depth charge catapults, canted pillars with cups on top and pistons on the side,. These are sometimes referred to as a Y gun, due to the angle of the pillars when viewed from along the ship.
On the starboard side, a depth charge rests ready for loading against the railing. A spigot projecting from the otherwise cylindrical charge would have been used to locate it accurately on the catapult.
Moving aft, the steering chains run along the side of the deck to the steering mechanism, a simple set of bars with chains attached to either side. In the wheel house the chains would have been pulled either way by the turning the ships wheel, in turn pulling one or other of the bars on the steering mechanism to turn the rudder below.
Over the stern the general level of the seabed is 34 metres with a 3 metre scour under the stern leaving the propeller and rudder exposed. It just shows how strong the tide can be here. The propeller is iron with 4 blades. A small hole in the keel just forward of the propeller is home to a conger eel.
Back on the deck and moving forward along the port side, there are another pair of depth charges secured against the side of the wheelhouse. Just forward of these is the remains of the twin 0.5-inch machine gun mount, fallen from the roof of the deckhouse. The mount is complete, though the guns are gone.
Next forward is the base of the wheelhouse. The wheelhouse itself was wooden and has completely decayed, debris blocking the flue to the boiler below. The reason for the survival of the deckhouse behind is that it was built up with steel to take the machine gun mount.
In front of the wheelhouse an outline on the deck marks the point where the trawl winch would have been located, presumably removed when the Warwick Deeping was converted for Admiralty use in 1939.
Next forward is the hold, with cover still intact though it does sag a little in places. On the port side of the hold coaming rests another depth charge, then about halfway forward along the hold is a small winch, also on the port side.
Be very cautious from here forward as there is a net draped across the wreck just aft of the mast. An open hatch leading into the hold is partially blocked by the net.
The main 4-inch gun lies intact on one side, the barrel projecting over the port side of the bow. It's a nice example, complete with mounting, pintle and all the main parts, though there are no wheels on it.
The Warwick Deeping has a covered weather bow, just a pair of bollards set into the otherwise smooth cover on either side. The anchor winch can be seen inside the sheltered area below.
The port hawse pipe is empty, though an anchor is still held firmly in the starboard hawse pipe. Unlike the stern, the seabed at the bow is at 34 metres with virtually no scour.