HMS Brazen

[Getafix]

On Saturday 18th a few people including myself undertook a dive on HMS Brazen,a WWII destroyer,sunk in the Dover straits.We could not have had better conditions,flat sea,sun shining and what looked like good inwater viz.

So we turned up on site,and the bow was located,then we headed to the stern,and that's where the anchor was dropped.5 people went ahead of me,as i had a job to do at the end of the dive in getting the anchor ready to send up.As i went down the viz was good,8m,maybe a touch more,and with the sun overhead i knew my torch would be redundant.
I came down almost right on the stern,the aft gun was laying over on the seabed to port,i headed along the wreck to the torpedo tubes also pointing to port,and poked around for a bit.There's always been a sandbar laying across the middle,although it varies from time to time,so i followed it along until i came to the bridge area,and used my torch for the only time on the dive to look in some holes there.Heading to the front from here i could see the forward gun laying off to starboard,and the now collapsed bows also lying a bit further on(they collapsed about 5yrs ago). Having seen the whole length of the ship i returned to the anchor to put it on a bit of sacrificial cord that could be snapped out,and a lift bag on it,before ascending for a few minutes deco. Fish life was fairly good,but mostly pouting,as well as the usual blennies.Max depth a touch under 30m.

Some recent reports suggest that the Brazen was hardly there,and although she is a shadow of her former self,there is still much to see,and she stands generally 4m proud,and about 50-60m long(i'd guess). Go look for yourselves

Alan

[CotoChris]

Always enjoy a good trip report, makes me envious though

[Jetsam]

Good to see the old girls still there!