Wreck of Woodford on Spanish Coast

[Jona1959]

On September 1st, 1937 at 06:30 in the morning, when the English flag tanker Woodford procceding from Konstanz to Valencia, carrying 10,000 tns of oil,
was off the coast of Peñiscola in approximate position (40 ° 09N 000 ° 46E), was sunk by the Italian submarine Diaspro, who after missing their first 2 torpedoes,
launched two more that hit on starboard tanks 5 and 8.



Woodford's crew was composed of 32 men, mostly Greek some Romanian and a Hungarian the Captain was Bulgarian Gregorij Dimitrov Bulgaria,
almost all of them left the ship after the impact and subsequent explosion. The ship was in flames until 10:15 hours when it sank.
The second engineer Zoforas Meletius could not leave the ship and died, the rest of his teammates were safe in two lifeboats and were towed
by two fishing boats from Benicarlo, six sailors were wounded three of them seriously.



The ship had been built in the UK by shipyard "James Laing & Sons Ltd", Sunderland for Norwegian shipowner Wilhelmsen and launched
with the name of "San Joaquin", subsequently changed its name and its owner on several occasions until been acquired by SS Finchley Co. Ltd
of London and renamed Woodford. He was a 6987 oil tns registration, 129.7 meters long, 17.4 meters wide and 10.1 meters prop
cargo tanks was 18, nine in each band.



The Italian submarine Diaspro was one of 10 Pearl class submarines that the government of Benito Mussolini made available to the cause of Franco.



It features:
Displacement: 844 tonnes submerged, 680 tonnes on surface
Length: 60.18 m, Beam: 6,45 m, Draught: 4,7 m
Propulsion: Diesel-electric
Diesel engines, 1,200 hp (895 kw)
Electric motors, 800 hp (597 kw)
2 axes
Speed: 14 knots surfaced 7.5 knots submerged
Range: 5,000 nm at 8 knots surface and 74 nm at 4 knots submerged
Depth: 250 feet (76 m)
Crew: 45 men
Armament: 1 x 100 mm (4 inches), 4 × 13.2 mm anti-aircraft guns,
6 × 21 in (533 mm), four torpedo tubes in the bow and two aft, 12 torpedoes.



The submarine Diaspro was built in the shipyards "Cantieri dell Adriatico Reuniti" Molfalcone began construction on the 29 September 1935 and was launched
on July 5, 1936 to be delivered to the Italian Navy on 22 August of the same year.

After its entry into service in August 1936 he was assigned to the 35th Squadron Base submersibles in Messina. Assigned to III Submersible Messina Group commanded
by Lieutenant Commander Giuseppe Mellina under whom participated in the Spanish Civil War between the years (1936-1939).
On August 25, 1937 leave from Naples on his second mission heading to Oropesa. On September 1st, sighting near the coast the british tanker Woodford. Since
that fateful day the wreck is lying on the seabed 80 meters depth, on her starboard side, which band the torpedoes hit. The rest is history.

Since yesterday the remains of the wreck are again the subject of interest after 75 years because Spanish Agency for maritime Search and Rescue has begun works in
order to extract the oil still stored in the tanks of the wreck and were sporadically were origin of oily stains in that area of the Mediterranean coast.



Decontamination operations was undertaken by Spanish Maritime Search and Rescue Agency on the Woodford tanker, sunk in 1937 during the Civil War, with a dual purpose:
Delete a constant source of contamination, which could worsen over time with increasing cracks and wear plates for corrosion, resulting in a gradual increase in the volume of waste.
Avoiding a serious environmental risk to the Mediterranean Sea and the ecosystem of the islands Columbretes in the event of a major leak of hydrocarbon content in the tanks.
It has activated a device that includes the latest saturation diving techniques in this operation.
To work in saturation divers must have highly qualified, highly reliable equipment and a dedicated support vessel, the Clara Campoamor.


Jona