The Turquoise (Wreck)
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It would have been little consolation to the crew of the Belgian coaster Turquoise to know that they had been sunk by an experimental steam gunboat of Britain's Coastal Forces.
Turquoise was a legitimate target as the small vessel was armed and steaming along the Normandy coast as part of a German convoy on 19 June, 1942.
That's when British torpedo boats attacked. HMS Steam Gun Boat No 7 fired two torpedoes at her, one of which scored a direct hit.
Turquoise was 164ft long with a beam of 35ft, and had been built by John Cockerhill of Antwerp in 1932 for the Ostend to Tilbury run. She had been captured by German troops in Ostend when Belgium was invaded in 1940 and put to work by German Naval Command soon afterwards.
Steam Gun Boat No 7 had little time in which to celebrate her success, for she in turn was sunk by German E-boats later the same day. SGB-7 was the only war casualty of this experimental class of fast steam gunboats, of which nine were designed but only seven completed.
Towards the end of the war they were used as fast minesweepers. They were all 198 tons, 145ft long with a beam of 20ft. Their steam turbines could give them more than 30 knots. Their armament consisted of one 3in gun, two 20mm AA guns and two 18in bow torpedo tubes. The wreck of SGB-7 can be dived 11 miles east of St Vaast-la-Hougue in 30m.
Turquoise was a legitimate target as the small vessel was armed and steaming along the Normandy coast as part of a German convoy on 19 June, 1942.
That's when British torpedo boats attacked. HMS Steam Gun Boat No 7 fired two torpedoes at her, one of which scored a direct hit.
Turquoise was 164ft long with a beam of 35ft, and had been built by John Cockerhill of Antwerp in 1932 for the Ostend to Tilbury run. She had been captured by German troops in Ostend when Belgium was invaded in 1940 and put to work by German Naval Command soon afterwards.
Steam Gun Boat No 7 had little time in which to celebrate her success, for she in turn was sunk by German E-boats later the same day. SGB-7 was the only war casualty of this experimental class of fast steam gunboats, of which nine were designed but only seven completed.
Towards the end of the war they were used as fast minesweepers. They were all 198 tons, 145ft long with a beam of 20ft. Their steam turbines could give them more than 30 knots. Their armament consisted of one 3in gun, two 20mm AA guns and two 18in bow torpedo tubes. The wreck of SGB-7 can be dived 11 miles east of St Vaast-la-Hougue in 30m.
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Coordinates: 49°35'11"N 1°6'6"W
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