Skulferatu #52 - XT-Craft Midget Submarine Wrecks, Aberlady Bay, East Lothian

 

About a mile away from the picturesque village of Aberlady, there is a rather lovely walk through a nature reserve that stretches along the coast on one side of Aberlady Bay.  The path through this takes you through a wooded area and out onto a stretch of land covered in sea grasses and reeds.  From there it leads onto some huge sand dunes and a gorgeous sandy beach that seems to stretch out forever at low tide.  Today, I walked out there from Aberlady.  The sun shone through a wind that howled in from the sea and it was both warm and freezing at the same time.  Typical British beach weather basically.

 

As I made my way out along the beach towards the retreating sea, I took off my socks and shoes and walked though pitted puddles in the sand to the watery graves of two submarines. 

 

Remains of one of the submarines with the other away in the distance

 

These are not as you may think German submarines sunk during World War II but are rather a couple of British mini submarines that were used by the RAF for target practice.

 

Remains of one of the wrecked XT-Craft midget submarines

 

They are the remains of two XT-Craft midget submarines.  These are training versions of the X-Craft submarines which were built in Britain during the Second World War and were designed to defend harbours and attack targets.  They were used on the attack of the German battleship Tirpitz in 1943 and were used during the D-Day landings to carry out beach reconnaissance and act as navigational beacons.

 

The hatch of one of the wrecked submarines

 

Detail of one of the wrecked submarines

 

Rusting remains of one of the submarines

 

Inside view of one of the submarines

 

View of one of the wrecked submarines on the beach

 

In 1946 these two submarines were towed out to Aberlady bay and moored to concrete blocks.  They were then used to test the effectiveness of 20mm cannon shells, which were fired at them by RAF aircraft.  The film of these tests taking place is available on YouTube at –

After the tests were completed the damaged remains of the submarines were left to rust away in the sea.

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on my walk in a hole in the rusting interior of one of the submarines.

 

Skulferatu #52

 

Interior of submarine where Skulferatu #52 was left

 

Skulferatu #52 inside the wreck of one of the submarines

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #52

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.022681

Longitude -2.880941

 

I used the following sources for information on the submarines –

 

Canmore

X-craft: Aberlady Bay, Firth Of Forth | Canmore

 

Aberlady Heritage

Midget Submarines, Aberlady Bay, Summary Report by Alison Boutland