am I right in thinking they are trying to raise whats left of Graf Spee?
I find it interesting that the turrets have stayed on, I thought they normally came off when a ship sank?
No I certainly would not dig up a war grave,and on the whole I agree that as such they should never be disturbed.Nor should the Titanic have been plundered as such,although I do believe they were right to find the wreck and show the world,but leave the artefacts where they are.
Getting back to the Graf Spee however,as far as I am aware she is not a war grave,as Captain Langsdorff , a person who cared for his crew,gave the order for her to be scuttled to save any further loss of life.Again, when Graf Spee came into the River Plate after the battle with our Cruisers, Ajax,Achillies and Exeter, the bodies of those killed were brought ashore and given a proper funeral,at which the British prisoners of war,who were on board Graf Spee during the battle,attended to a man..without any pressure,to pay their respects to the fallen Geman Crew who had treated them so fairly.
Only if the ship turns turtle and they fall out or sometimes if they are blown off by a magazine explosion although in that case usually just the roof tends to get blown off - see the wreck of HMS Invincible.
Graf Spee had only a few feet of water under her when she was scuttled and just settled on the muddy bottom. She had also shot away a large proportion of her ammunition so there was less to explode than there might otherwise have been.
Colin
considering the Scharnhorst and Graf Spee both had the same main gun.
A few photos.
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/0102057930300.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/0102032853100.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/0102032853600.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/040210_uruguay_bcol_10agrid-6x2.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/rangefinder2.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/0102033328000.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/0102057928800.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/0102032853800.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/commandtower.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/rangefinder.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/grafspee_2008_1.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/0102057928100.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/eagle.jpg)
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p8/DickyD_photos/Graf%20Spee/0102057928500.jpg)