SUBMARINE DESTROYER "UJ 2216" KT


The Sinking

The "KT" ("Kriegstransporter") was originally a very elegant yacht of higher class, of French property: she was owned on the beginning of her life by the Baron Henri de Rotschild, and was built 1926 with the name of "Eros". During April 1939 the vessel was expropriated by the French Navy and it was later given the code of "AD 227", a name under which it was sent to diplomatic mission to Ajaccio (Corsica).
During the following time it was given back to the former and proper owners, yet for a short time; by the beginning of the II World War it was expropriated for a second time by the French government. In Toulon it was rearmed and adapted for war missions, then firstly named as "AD 196" and again as "P 140": it was sent for its next mission task to Morocco (Tanger) as an armed escort cargo to the French submarines "Arianne" (December 1939) and "Espadon" (April 1940).

Afterwards it served also as troop transporter, on service to the North African coasts until 1942, when it was assigned to Touolon.
Besides this ship was also renovated and fully refurbished in order to be made suitable to the rank of Marshall Petain: this was done for the sake of his possible escape (which never took place, yet) to Algeri, as soon as German nazi troops would suddenly occupy France.
From Toulon the ship was then sent by the French government to serve as a coast guard unit after having been renamed for the fifth time as "Incomprise".
After the fall of Toulon (November 27th, 1942) into German hands this unit was seized and later incorporated into the nazi fleet of the "Reichskriegsmarine".
Within the following 9 months the unit was completely rebuilt and renovated again, then rearmed in order to take service with its very last name of "UJ-2216" and as a Submarine Destroyer for the German Navy.
On September 27th, 1943 it served for the first time as a naval war unit at the 22nd German fleet of submarine destroyers of its UJ class, at the Italian harbour of Genova.

Late in the evening on September 13th, 1944 at about 10.30 pm the UJ-2216 was on its way toward Genova, coming back from escorting 2 German minelayers that had finished their mission of mining the harbour of La Spezia.
The unit was discovered by an allied aircraft that immediately fired without causing any damages to the vessel.
Early in the following morning at 03.30 am, after an allied submarine could track its true position, and after the UJ-2216 fired (due to wrong orders by the sonar crew on board) the unit was finally shot and hit by a torpedo at the rear part of the hull.
It sunk very quickly: 6 members of the crew died during the sinking and other 17 went missed in action: this was particularly due to the huge blast of all the mines and ammunition stacked on board on the backside of the unit, since these exploded all together at the same time after the shot.

The war equipment of that time on board of the UJ-2216 was mainly made of 3 large platforms deployed as defense against air attack: the first one, placed on the front side of the unit, was armed with a heavy 88 mm gun. The 2 following were placed in the rear sector of the unit, one after the other.
One of these was equipped with a double 35 mm machine gun for air defense.
On both sides of the vessel, in the front and rear section, 2 other groups of 20 mm lighter machine guns were placed: those placed in the front part are still at their place, although just their racks have remained on site.
At the rear side the whole group of machine guns still lies untouched, yet completely surrounded by dangerous nets and fishing lines (like on a considerable part of the whole wreck) and hence partly hidden to the diver.
During the past years (1971) some parts of the equipment had been plundered, like the steering compass (now placed in Turin, Italy, at the Diving Store "Bari Sub") and a light machine gun, that was also removed from its place.

The Dive

The UJ-2216 lies horizontally in perfect navigation trim on the sea bottom, pointing to the South, and reaching a depth of about 195-200 fsw (58-60 m).
This is one of the most beautiful and amazing wrecks all throughout the Mediterranean Sea, be it for photographic and for historical purposes as well.
The wreck, with exception of the rear part, which went destroyed during the ammunition blast, lies still in good shape, although it is partly surrounded by nets and lines. The diver should pay a good deal of attention to these structures, especially in case of difficult dive profiles.

The command bridge had been strenghtened at both sides during the II WW time: this partly hides the windows out of sight, whereas on the deck of the front bridge a still intact long mast together with other 2 joined rods still stretch themselves up to the depth of about 120 fsw (36 m).
The muddy bottom could bring to the suspension of heavy sand particles during the dive: this could impinge on the dive safety conditions indeed, so try to get full control of your buoyance.

This dive may doubtless be classified under the Technical Dives, since it could be possible to dive under strong water streams, limited visibility conditions and with mixed gas profiles (for dive plans scheduling more than 15 min bottom time around the wreck).

The minimal equipment for a first snug dive under safe conditions should entail at least the usage of a O2 stage bottle during the last decompression stops.
Diving with mixed gas (normoxic Trimix, indicated) even with a slight O2% reduction (18-19%) should be here recommended: these general values for a Trimix dive are indeed safe and largely suitable for a He% with N2 values (END-Equivalent Narcotic Depth) around 135 fsw (40 m) and for decompression Stops in O2 and/or EAN 50.
Some more diving sessions are here needed, in order to discover the many details during the exploration and to get best shots of this amazing wreck.