Recalling the sleeping Dreadnought
'A divers guide to Audacious by Leigh Bishop'

Today Audacious lies with her bows south-east & stern north-west 17 miles north-east of Tory Island, and a relatively short 13-mile steam from the nearby shelter of Lough Swilly.

I once shot a few reels of colour film around HMS Audacious using strobe assisted lights which effectively darkened the images giving them a slight feel for depth. To me this was the wrong thing to do, in some ways I felt upset that I had described a wreck with a false perspective. No this wreck was one of the finest wrecks I had ever had the opportunity to dive, blessed in some of the worlds best clarity of water with ambient light the wreck deserved her story to be told in a completely new form and one that gave full respect to her.

HMS Audacious sinking

For a brief moment in history I was happy with the colour images, but as I say just a brief moment. I try to emphasis the true story of a shipwreck the best I can with the available time I have. It was time to go ambient if only to grab that true feel to a real story especially one like 'Audacious' with mother guns and turrets like you've never seen before!The visibility well let's just says the gun turrets are so big here you can see them on your way down the shot line.

Huge Gun turret

With so many conflicting reports as to the quality of wreck dive this site offers the only way to find out for sure was to make the drop myself. One of the Irish lads that originally investigated the wreck spoke highly of her to me over the years, I took his word, after all, the dives him and his mates were pulling off in the mid nineties were indeed way ahead of their time. On the other hand I had heard others turn their nose up " Not interested in an upside-down wreck" was a frequent phrase when 'Audacious' talk cropped up.

For sure as with most battleships 'Audacious' is yet another upside-down wreck but as with other wrecks in the area she still makes for a cracking dive, take my word for it! And besides were else do you go local to see a fine example of a British Dreadnought? There are several key features on this site and unless you have come armed with propulsion your skippers shot depends on what your dive will encounter.

The English dictionary describes the word Audacious as bold and daring, seeing this monster you can see why the admiralty appropriately named her so. Due to the explosion in a magazine the engine room has blown wide open, it is here that the visiting diver can see huge steam Parsons turbine engines and machinery of all manor. Infact as you swim across the upturned very top section of this wreck you can quickly become disorientated if only by the immense devastation caused by the explosions. Quite possibly further non documented damage occurred once she disappeared below the surface, there's that much debris and damage here that the likely hood of depth charge destruction during WW2 cannot be ruled out.

Audacious anchor

There has certainly been no salvage of such kind as all of her screws remain in situe items that would have certainly long since gone had the commercial companies been here. This is also a wreck where you are able to swim with that comfortable feeling that some vicar isn't waving his finger in a fit of rage, no all of the crew of Audacious were taken off safely prior to her sinking. This isn't a war grave although nor is it a site for souvenir hunters unless of course your happy to take the Belfast ferry home with a 13.5-inch projectile strapped to your roof rack! Which basically means don't come here looking for spidge as there isn't any! Another result of the explosions has left munitions and projectiles quite literally scattered around the white sand and shingle seabed as well as amongst damaged wreckage. So far I've mentioned that the wreck is upside down spidge-less and heavily damaged at the shallow levels, yes that's right another capsized battleship, so why have I also added that this is a cracking dive? There are as I say several distinguishable features of note that will always remain in the mind of anyone who visits this site, everything here is on a huge scale, the projectiles themselves are some sight not to mention the guns & stern section of the wreck. Swim north-west and you will eventually arrive at the stern, rest yourself on the seabed to the very stern port side and take on the breathtaking view of her props in situe. This section of the wreck is intact other than the very stern tail that has simply broken off either due to its own weight or a result of seabed impact as she sank stern first. Have a look at this tail while you're down here, her unusual design and twin rudders still pointing towards the surface. There are four props attached to exposed shafts that can be followed along her keel the starboard side shafts extremely bent, the port props in remarkable condition, use the midday sun and high ambient light to silhouette these magnificent props against the wreck itself.

The author imaging the 13.5inch guns

There are two massive gun turrets visible on Audacious forward of amidships one to the side of the wreck with her barrels pointing at right angles to the hull the other within visible distance more into the wreckage itself. These guns have got to be seen to be belived and it's the special 30+m visibility here that really sets the scene, check em out twin 13.5inch barrels resting upside down out across the seabed with the turrets themselves shadowing like houses in the background. In a position facing down the barrels a short swim to your right brings you across another smaller 4inch gun again on the seabed. From here there appears a small break although still within visible distance before the obvious bow section of the wreck is met.

In a position facing down the barrels a short swim to your right brings you across another smaller 4inch gun again on the seabed. From here there appears a small break although still within visible distance before the obvious bow section of the wreck is met. Twin anchors still remain, as they would naturally have been, within their hawsers! The bow tip as with the stern is broken clean off and is sharp in design, there is also an immense pile of chain here and mooring cleats twice the size of any other wreck. Conclusion If you want the dogs bollock's of a wreck dive, go see Audacious for yourself she fits the bill perfectly!

Diver on the upturned hull of HMS Audacious

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