Читать книгу Deeper into the Darkness онлайн

84 страница из 184

The wreck of HMS Audacious now lies upside down in 67 metres of water. The secondary explosion (forward) has destroyed her bow section. B turret lies upside down with what is believed to be the base of the conning tower abaft. The armoured barbette for B turret lies on the seabed nearby. A long section of her starboard side runs outwards from the wreck to the bow, which still has two anchors held in their hawses. Her four props remain on the wreck.

As we made our way towards the bow, the upturned flat bottom of the battleship, lined with docking keels and with a bilge keel running down either side suddenly petered out – the whole bow section is missing, from the conning tower area forward.

The hull just stops abruptly in the vicinity of the conning tower and descends into a scattered debris field on the seabed. Parts of ship, winches, secondary casemate guns, cordite propellant charges and 13.5-inch shells for the main guns lie scattered around amidst sheared plates and sections of ship.