Archive

In large part due to the selective focus of the film industry, the Second World War is often viewed as a conflict between Britain and Germany, with American intervention saving the day, and it’s often forgotten that many other nations suffered under Axis control and fought for their freedom. One such nation was Poland. It […]

Many ships had a part to play in the Mediterranean conflicts of the First and Second World Wars, and many of them were lost with little more recognition than a note in a diary somewhere. Some of the bigger battleships have detailed histories kept by military and maritime historians, but without the services of ordinary […]

Many of the most famous military wrecks that are visited by divers are from the Second World War, but the First World War was the first major conflict in Europe in which steel-hulled battleships were deployed, and Malta as much of an important base for the Mediterranean Fleet between 1914 and 1918 as it was […]

HMS Southwold has been dived for some years but was brought under the protection of Heritage Malta’s Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit (UCHU) in May 2019 as a wreck of particular historical significance. As such, diving the ship is now only permitted when conducted by a select number of Malta and Gozo’s dive centres. You can find a full […]

The Mediterranean saw some of the most intense fighting of the Second World War, and the Allied island outpost of Malta was subjected to a relentless bombing campaign which saw several thousand aircraft shot down over Maltese waters. In the second of our six-part series previewing the wrecks recently opened to technical divers by Heritage […]

Malta is one of the most popular destinations in the world for wreck divers. As a British and Allied Mediterranean stronghold during the First and Second World Wars, a staggering amount of tonnage was sunk around Malta’s shores and those of its sister islands, Gozo and Comino. Over the years, Malta’s Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit (UCHU) has […]