Another wreck in the Baltic Sea identified

The 2013 diving season is in full swing, and on the Baltic Sea the team of technical divers scored another hit! This time the group on board the popular “Litoral” under the command of Wojtek Jechna managed to identify the German ship Boelcke. The vessel, sunk at the end of World War II, served as a technical base for seaplanes.

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The Flugssicherungsschiff Boelcke was built in late 1942 at the Hamburg shipyard Norderwerft Koser & Meyer. Stationed in the Baltic region, the unit was in charge of supplying seaplanes and Luftwaffe flying boats and carrying out minor repairs.

The Boelcke was sunk just before the end of World War II, on 17 April 1945, during an Allied air raid. The explosion killed 20 crew members.

The identity of the wreck was confirmed thanks to the characteristic elements of the vessel. They can be seen on the archival photographs and on the frames of the film recorded during the dive. The film was recorded by the reliable Sławek Paćko, during the descent to the wreck with Dimitris Stavrakakis.

The Boelcke is a wreck 78m long and over 10m wide. Going down to this position we find the superstructure at a depth of about 60m, while at the bottom the measuring instruments indicate 75m. In service she was powered by two 12-cylinder MAN engines, driving two three-bladed propellers of 185cm diameter. All this allowed her to develop a speed of 21.5 knots.

At the same time, the workshop could host up to 3 aircraft, which were supported by 5 anti-aircraft guns (2x 2.0 cm and 3x 3.7 cm) and 2 heavy machine guns.

Source: wrecksite.eu, balticwrecks.com