Terry/Dan,

I should have mentioned how the U-series boats were used. They only operated out of German ports and not from the captured Belgian ports. As the biggest and most sea worthy boats, they also tended to work further out to sea than the UBs and UCs. And perhaps most imprtantly, they rarely went through Dover. As a result, very few Us were lost in the English Channel during the war.

The conventional history has only the U 93 missing in the English Channel, but that boat has been located and IDed recently. There are a few other cases that could be interpretted differently to give an U-series boat missing in the Channel, but that's far from a given.

What's much more likely is that the boat you dived was lost en route to being dumped. Scrap metal prices were so low in 1921 that the Royal Navy couldn't even sell the surrendered boats. As a result, they ended up just scuttling a bunch at sea in June 1921. The location of one the dumping grounds was south of St. Catherine's Point at about 50 11N, 01 20W. Presumably the boat is question was being towed out there when the tow broke and she sank (or was sunk). Innes McCartney has tried to research what was dumped where and reports that surviving Admiralty records are incomplete.

Innes lists U 86 as being dumped on June 30, 1921 at 50 31N, 00 34W. This is obviously not in the main dumping ground, and he thinks its likely that your wreck is really U 86.

Guns pointing skyward have been reported on several other U-boat wrecks as well. A trawler snagging its nets on a wreck's deck guns is what's thought to cause this.

Best wishes,

Michael