The
9,500 ton British liner Moldavia is perhaps one of the most revered and well
loved wrecks in the English Channel. She lies 26 miles out into the
Channel in 50 metres of crystal clear water. The wreck is vast, hauntingly
beautiful and still packed full of items of interest. Portholes their
glass and brass fitments still present, hang open, massive guns point up towards
the surface. The sealife too is immense - large schools of fish drift over
the wreck, sometimes hanging like a curtain obscuring large parts of it.The Moldavia was built in 1903 on the River Clyde in Scotland and soon proved herself to be a beautiful, well designed and very seaworthy liner becoming very popular on the Britain to Australia run. In 1915 she was requisitioned by the British government for war service and fitted out with 4.7 inch guns to become HMS Moldavia. Latterly she was used as a troop carrier but on 23 May 1918 towards the end of the War, whilst carrying American troops to the European theatre she was attacked and sunk by UB-57 off Littlehampton in the English Channel with the loss of 56 American servicemen. She rolled over and slipped beneath the waves, another casualty of a cruel war.
Details
of the Moldavia, her sinking and wreck are in Dive
England's Greatest Shipwrecks.