Title:TRUCULENT - SALVAGE OPERATIONS JANUARY 12TH TO MARCH 23RD, 1950 [Main Title]
Film Number:DRN 1437
Other titles:
Summary: Description of the salvage of the submarine HMS Truculent, sunk in a collision in the Thames Estuary in 1950, the first peacetime salvage of a submarine.
Description: The Admiralty had decided that Truculent would be lifted bodily using the HM salvage ships Energie and Ausdauer, both of which possessed powerful stern lifting capabilities. The Boom Defence Vessels Barndale and Swin were also used to carry out an underwater survey and to guide the messenger wires into position under Truculent. The two lifting vessels were tugged into place on one side of the submarine, with Barndale and Swin on the other. Various messenger wires were then used to drag the nine-inch lifting wires into place. A spud pontoon was placed between Energie and Ausdauer as a spacing platform and working area. Truculent is slowly raised to the surface; she is then towed upstream and beached at Cheney Spit, wher the damage she had sustain acn clearly be seen. Medical officers enter the submarine to test the air prior to the recovery of victims. The submarine is patched up and loose equipment removed before she is refloated and taken to Sheerness Dockyard prior to being scrapped.
