“LOKFAHRE” Former British TLC TYPE mark 1
During World War I, the needs of the British army led to the construction of light landing crafts whose main purpose was to transfer tanks and staff to combat and difficult to access areas. At the beginning of World War II the British Admiralty began the construction of a new type of landing craft that was initially named TLC (Tank Landing Craft) and then became more known under the American term LCT (Landing Craft Tank).
Since June 1940 and during World War II, the British Prime Minister himself, Winston Churchill, was personally interested in the design, quality, and the production pace of the TLCs. The result was the construction of a craft of 226 tones with a total displacement of 372 tones that had the capacity of transferring 3 tanks of 36 tons each able to disembark them during combat and shores with difficult access. This type was known as TLC Mark 1 and was used during World War II in the fronts of the Mediterranean Sea, including Greece. One of the main characteristics of this type was her long ramp of 3,7m that helped vehicles disembark directly on the shore while a second steel double hinged door located behind the ramp protected the vehicles further, separating the disembarkation area from the bow. The general technical characteristics of the British TLC Mark 1 were:
Ship Characteristics :
Length: 46m
Width: 8,5m
Draught: 0,91m
Propulsion: 2 Hall-Scott engines of 350hp (261 kW)
Propellers: 2
Indicative speed: 8 knots
Autonomy: 900 nautical miles
Indicative crew: 12 members (2 officers, 10 sailors)
Indicative armament: 2 QF 2-pounder naval gun
The first TLC Mark 1 was constructed under the reference number 795 at the Vickers-Armstrong’s shipyards, at Barrow of England and was completed in 11.12.1940. In total, 30 TLC Mark 1 were constructed, from which, the 20 first received the code “A”, from the term “A-class lighters” along with the respective serial number and were transferred to North Africa participating in operations that had to do with the front of Cyrenaica.
The Wreck
The wreck sank to a depth of 108m in the area of Anavissos. The bow to stern axis has a direction of almost 210 degrees. The ship was carrying five vehicles; three of them are in the wreck and the other two have fallen outside. Sidemount configuration was used by the divers for this dive.
The divers spent 6minutes to descend and a further 12 minutes exploring and filming the wreck before beginning their ascent and necessary decompression stops which lasted two hours. There was a strong current both on the surface and on the wreck which is evident from the video. As a consequence, the dive line dropped 15 meters away from the wreck which however did not pose much of a problem to the dive plan. Two separate lines were used for the dive. A dive line and a decompression station where the divers could dispose their travel gasses on their joyrney back to the surface. The safety diver was also present for a few minutes during the decompression to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the divers after an arduous dive. Overall an excellent dive!
The Team
Divers : Erikos Kranidiotis, Stelios Stamatakis
Support Diver : Antonis Grafas
Boat Captain : Theodoros Grafas
Historical Research : Dimitris Galon
Website
addicted2h2o.com/landingcraft/
*License for the Music used in this video has been obtained from Audio Network.
Αποβατικό σκάφος Β Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου τύπου TLC mark 1.
10 июн 2023
