Читать книгу Deeper into the Darkness онлайн

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The ripped-open forward section of the keel at the bow, from bridge to stem, was right beside and below us. In the lovely visibility, I could see the full beam of the ship and how the two sides of tapered armour belt swept together towards the stem. The vertical armour belt plates protecting the most important parts of the ship, such as the engines, boilers and magazines amidships, were 6 inches thick, but these tapered towards stern and bow, outwith the citadel. The vertical armour plates beneath me here at the bow appeared to be about 2 inches thick. Inside the exposed innards of the ship I could see the now familiar cylindrical ammunition hoist trunking for A turret, the starboard beam torpedo tube abaft it – and the three capstan axles and circular gears nearby, ahead of it.

As I hung in free water above the wreck I studied this open area in more detail. There was still no trace of any of the keel frames, stringers or shell plating of the hull. Everything above the vertical armour belt plates of either side was gone. In the confused debris of ship’s innards here I spotted a number of torpedo bodies, a number of separate torpedo warheads, shells for the 7.5-inch main guns and for the 6-inch casemate guns, and masses of corrugated rectangular brass tins holding cordite propellant charges for the guns. Cordite propellant was stored separately from shells in magazines well below the waterline of warships.