HMS Olympus Project

HMS Olympus Project 2017

HMS Olympus Project 2017
This year i was very privileged to be working with Heritage Malta and the Maltese Government on some ongoing Expeditions, of which all the dives were in depths beyond 100m. One of which was on the HMS Olympus Project led by Dr Timmy Gambin, this was an amazing experience to be one of the first divers to ever dive on her. She lies in 130m of water. This was done with respect as she is a war grave. In memory of the sailors lost, a memorial plaque was placed on her. Here are just a few of the photos taken during the project. Unfortunately on the very first dive my Nautical housing flooded and the remainder of the trip photos were taken with a GoPro.  A little history of HMS Olympus From 1931 to 1939 Olympus was part of the 4th Flotilla on the China Station. From 1939-1940 she was with the 8th Flotilla, Colombo, Ceylon. In 1940 she was redeployed to the Mediterranean. She was damaged on 7 July 1940 when bombed by Italian aircraft while in dock in Malta. Repairs and refit were completed on 29 November 1940. On 9 November 1941 Olympus attacked the Italian merchant ship Mauro Croce (1,049 GRT) with torpedoes and gunfire in the Gulf of Genoa. The target escaped without damage. On 8 May 1942 Olympus struck a mine and sank off Malta. She had just left Malta on passage to Gibraltar with personnel including many of the crews of the submarines Pandora, P36 and P39 which had been sunk in air raids. There were only 9 survivors out of 98 aboard. They had to swim 7 miles (11 km) back to Malta. 89 crew and passengers were lost with the ship. Living the dream, one dive at a time !!