Brian Donald Wrote:
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> While researching the last U-Boat torpedo 'kills'
> of WW2 -which took place on May 8th 1945 in the
> Firth of Forth, eastern Scotland, I cam across a
> reference to a WW1 German U-boat which was sunk in
> the Firth and still lying on the bottom there.
> I know a U-Boat was sunk off Dunbar East Lothian
> during WW1 but Dunbar is outside the Firth of
> Forth,Any ideas about this alleged other U-Boat's
> identity?..

The 1st WW u-boat lying circa 5 miles off Dunbar is the U74 (Eig) mine-layer. It appears she blew herself up after returning to lay further mines in a field she previously laid, but which had been cleared after the Sabbia ran into a mine and eventually sunk as a result. The U74 is recorded as having been sunk by armed trawlers off Peterhead; however the report was of a large sub firing guns fore and aft of the conning tower. The 'E' class have only one gun and that is aft of the conning tower.

Both hatches are closed so it appears the crew are still entombed; sadly the down attitude of the planes appears to indicate the last desperate attempts to right the boat as she descended stern first to the bottom. Magnetometer readings indicate that the entire sub is there but the majority is covered in silt. A line from the base of the anchor duct to the base of the gun is all that can be seen. The arial Masts lie off the starboard side and the periscopes have been bent by trawls.