Normandy 70

Normandy 70 is an expedition by Southsea Sub-Aqua Club to dive and record wrecks of associated with the maritime phase of WW2 Allied invasion of Normandy otherwise known as Operation NEPTUNE.  This expedition was inspired by a BSAC Southern Region initiative (NEPTUNE 70) which seeks to encourage branches to investigate and dive wrecks associated with Operation Neptune in British waters.

Following an approach from a group of English speaking divers, “Scuba Ninjas”, from France we are now embarking on a joint expedition to dive the WW2 Normandy wrecks with this group.  Scuba Ninjas are a multi-national and multi-cultural group of divers and we are delighted to have the opportunity to dive as a joint expedition.  They host a Facebook and web site to provide information and advice to English speaking divers – “Dive into France’. This multinational and multicultural expedition will provide the opportunity for divers from a number of different nationalities and cultures to commemorate the events of D Day and the subsequent liberation of France.

This joint expedition has developed fairly quickly but plans are fairly well advanced.  We have engaged widely with others including UKHO, with a view to exploring and recording a number of unidentified sites which may shed light on the what remains on the sea bed.  We intend to share our findings with appropriate public bodies thereby adding to the public record of this historic event.

We are most grateful to the BSAC Expeditions Grant Scheme which has made a grant of £1000 which may be used by the BSAC members to offset some expenses of the expedition, such as travel costs.

The team behind this expedition won the BSAC Expedition Prize for 2014.