Saturday, February 21, 2009

HMS Edinburgh

While at Donovan's Reef at Panama City Beach, Florida, I was talking with a couple from Alaska snowbirding it. He said that he was a deep sea welder and worked on oil rigs. He also said that he had recovered gold from the HMS Edinburgh, as a matter of fact, he was the one who cut through the ship's hull and was the first one to. I'd never heard of the story so looked it up when I got home.

There was such a ship and it was carrying gold when it was sunk in 1942.

Thanks to Wikipedia.

The HMS Edinburgh was a 613.6 foot long, 64.9 foot beam Town-class light cruiser carrying a main armament of 12 X 6-inch and 12 X 4-inch guns.

It was inolved in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck, but never caught sight of it. Much of the Edinburgh's service during the war was guarding convoys.


FINAL VOYAGE

The Edinburgh was escorting the eleven ship convoy QP-11 on April 30, 1942, when it was torpedoed by the U-456 and began to list. Fast action by the crew in closing the watertight bulkheads prevented sinking.

More to Come. --Cooter

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