The Ship

Little is known about this Landing Craft lying about two miles south south west of the cliff of White Nothe, just east of Weymouth .  From the size of the wreck it is probable that she was a LCM (landing craft mechanised) from the Second World War.   These were built on mass in preparation for the D-day landings in Normandy .   They were about 50 feet long with a beam of 14 feet, they could carry small tanks or large trucks weighing up to 30 tons. 

Landing Craft Mechanised outline

The Sinking

Nothing is known about the sinking other than the obvious fact that at some random point in time she did sink.   It was probably during a training exercise prior to D-day that she sank.

The Dive

The wreck lies upright but well broken on a muddy seabed, max depth is about 23 meters.  Only the stern section is left but most of the plating has rusted though leaving the ribs exposed. 

Sketch as she is now.

The engines are hidden under the plating but there are some holes that you can peer though, the engines and the wheelhouse often were armoured, which explains why the plating is almost intact in this area.  Lying on the seabed right at the stern you can see the propeller shaft complete with prop under the stern.  Lying a few feet away on the seabed is one of the two rudders.  A few feet away is a large wheel, which could very well be the landing crafts steering wheel.   The middle section, which would have held the cargo seems to be missing, an exploratory dive along the ships midline should reveal at least part of the bow structure, as the ramp being heavy duty should have survived.  For such a small wreck she supports a very large shoal of bib that are normally swarming all around the wreck.  Edible crabs can be found hiding under plates, and the sea bed around her is good for scallops when you get bored of the wreck, as she is very small.

Written By Gavin Bashford