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Tyne and Wear HER(13793): Tynemouth, HMS Cupar (Rosslare) - Details

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13793


N Tyneside


Tynemouth, HMS Cupar (Rosslare)


Tynemouth


NZ36NE


Maritime Craft


Warship


Minesweeper


Modern


C20


Wreckage


Steel, 800-ton, length 67.05m long, 8.66m beam, 2.26m draught. Originally named HMS Rosslare, this vessel was an Aberdare-class mine-sweeper. She was purpose built for the Royal Navy by McMillan at Dumbarton in 1918 but had her name changed later that year to HMS Cupar. The vessel has twin bronze propellers powered by two three-cylinder, triple expansion steam engines that used two boilers. It had an armament of one 10.2m (4 in) deck gun and one AA gun that fired 5.44kg (12lb) shells. HMS Cupar was carrying a crew of seventy-four when she detonated a German-laid mine, foundered and was lost as she approached the River Tyne on 5 May 1919, six months after the end of the First World War. The wreck lies upside down, partially buried and well broken up, covering an area of approximately 68m x 23m and standing some 1.5m high. Her twin bronze propellers are still fitted to the shafts at the stern end. The wreck lies on a seabed of dirty sand in a general depth of 15m. Unfortunately the wreck-site is almost in line with the Tyne shipping lane, so extreme caution is required if one wishes to visit the site. The Ian Spokes database lists the size of the ship as 231 x 28.5 x 7.5.


3898


6879


NZ38986879



Young, R. (2001) Comprehensive guide to Shipwrecks of the North East Coast (The): Volume Two, Tempus, Gloucestershire. p. 155: Ian T. Spokes Wreck Database; National Monument Record (1367808); Richard and Bridget Larn 1997 Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 3. The east coast of England : Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, County Durham, Northumberland Section 6, County Durham (CF); J J Colledge 1989 Ships of the Royal Navy, volume 1 Page(s)147; 1990 Jane's fighting ships of World War I Page(s)314; http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz/ship/show/176470 accessed on 30-JAN-2009; Taffrail (Captain Taprell Dorling, DSO, FRHistS) 1935 Swept Channels Page(s)317-8

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