Operation Tunnel the story of Charybdis & Limbourne

The largest disaster to overtake British naval forces in the English Channel during the WW2 Conflict took place in Oct 1943. During the early hours of the 23rd two warships were sunk in combat HMS Charybdis & Limbourne between them they took over 500 men with them. Some 58 years later, during June of 2001 a team of British trimix divers set out from Weymouth England to bring this story well and truly to the surface. The expedition was led by London based diver Keith Morris a good friend of mine who had invited me along as his stills photographer.

The expedition was a success and HMS Charybdis lying in a depth of 80m/270ft was photographed for the first time. From that month of June in 2001 the seasons took full circle and the team returned exactly a year later although this time they went in search of HMS Limbourne the destroyer lost alongside Charybdis on the 23rd Oct 1943. Again the Limbourne expedition was another great success for Keith Morris and the wreck was located positively identified by the location discovery of her bell and extensively surveyed. On both occasions the team worked in conjunction with the efforts of John Ovenden & Paul Haslam two of the channel Isles finest wreck hunters. Both Ovenden & Haslam were able to collect from the team material for the final chapters of their publication 'Shipwrecks of the Channel Isles' as well as video material for a proposed documentary. Both expeditions brought together friendships of old and young whilst 'Deep Image' brings to you the entire story. This is of course a story of divers & researchers of the modern age working alongside survivors of incredibly courage, from the sinking to the discovery's many have been involved, this is their story.

Pom Pom guns of HMS Limbourne at a depth of 280ft

Alongside the information on this site HMS Charybdis & Limbourne are featured
in the release of John Ovenden & David Shayers book that covers shipwrecks
of the Channel Islands waters. Click here to read more

archive image showing the pom pom guns located on both Charybdis & Limbourne

Far left; HMS Limbourne at anchor 1943 | HMS Charybdis | and the pom pom guns located by
the divers on both expeditions to the wrecks. Click each image to see a larger version or
visit the Charybdis& Limbourne image gallery to see both archive images and images of the wrecks.

Above; A stern crop view of HMS Limbourne, here the twin carriage depth charge
racks are obvious as are the depth charge launchers to the center of the image.
See the Limbourne wreck gallery to view more of what the expedition divers saw at depth.
Click here

HMS Limbourne: A Sequence of Consequences

Charles George Tidy aged just 19, was missing presumed killed in action on HMS Limbourne on
23rd October 1943. Charles's younger brother Alan Tidy was only 3 when Charles went
missing from the family! In 2002 a sequence of Bizarre communication events through the
expedition divers finally brought the truth home to Alan's family. For almost 60 years this family
never new the true story of HMS Limbourne and Charles George Tidy. Read this moving true
account written by Alan Tidy himself. click here

Above; A side scan image of HMS Charybdis that assisted the 2001 expedition, side scan
images were kindly provided to the team by Paul Haslam & John Ovenden (see team).
The images produced by the on site research vessel 'Deep Seeker' gave help to the team
and diving skipper Ian Taylor for pinpoint accuracy when it came to shotting the wreck.

Left; The expedition made news headlines on both sides of the English Channel, as well
as lead features in both Diver & 990 UK diving magazines.
Right; HMS Limbourne's coat of arms courtesy of Mr. John Ovenden. HMS Limbourne was
a Hunt class destroyer, as with her sister ships she was named so after apparent famous
English Country Hunts, This is a little sketchy but the (now defunct) Limbourne Hunt (more properly
Pack) comprised Beagles and they ran (I believe) in the area of Maldon, Essex. It was still active in the 1930s and goes back to at least the Regency period. DeepImage thanks Craig Howard for
this information. If you can elaborate with this information please e-mail us here.

Please use the navigation bar above to access the Charybdis & Limbourne Sub galleries and information.

This limited edition stamp was issued by the Guernsey post office in late 2003
in respect to the two famous ships lost close by to the Islands.

Both Expeditions have been extensively covered in several specialist magazines, however an in depth feature on both vessels and both independent expeditions can be found in one issue alone of 'After the Battle' (Issue number 132).

Here to your left the photograph on the cover by deep image author and writer Leigh Bishop shows diver Ian Taylor inspecting a heavy duty porthole on the wreck of HMS Charybdis. The official magazine website can be found here www.afterthebattle.com

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