Hi Si
Read up what reports there were for the damage to Edinburgh. There appears to have been a video about at some time as model was made of the wreck for a pre-dive survey.
The U-456 fired
a torpedo into the starboard side of the cruiser which began to list heavily. Soon after
a second torpedo, struck the ship's stern wrecking her steering equipment and effectively crippling her. She was attacked off Bear Island by German destroyers and while the small ships with the Edinburgh drove off the attackers,
she was torpedoed yet again, amidships exactly opposite the first torpedo hit from U-456. All that was preventing her from breaking in two was the deck plating and keel, which was likely to fail at any time, the crew abandoned the ship. Fifty-six ratings and two officers had been killed in the attacks.
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The first hit amidships on the starboard side by the forward boiler room, below the stokers mess, killing all in the area with a hole said to be 50ft long many men fell through the deck into the oil tank
while the second hit right aft.
The stern was blown off and the steering gear wrecked. Y turret was severely damaged. The quarter deck was wrapped round both after 6in turrets and 63ft of the stern was hanging down. The rudder and two shafts were lost. It was said that only B turret could be worked, which suggests whipping damage by A, but other statements suggest that A turret was still usable.
On 2 May the two F class destroyers were on the beam and the three minesweepers behind.
The German destroyers had fired 15 torpedoes
and scored one hit on the port side amidships, close to the bomb room at about which almost cut her in two and caused her to list 17" to port.
There was some further whipping, the turret officer was thrown out of B turret. Both British destroyers were temporarily disabled. About 800 men out of a crew of 850 were then taken off Edinburgh
Harrier fired 20 rounds Semi Armour Piercing shells to hasten her sinking and dropped two patterns of depth charges, but to no avail. Edinburgh was then torpedoed by Foresight. She sank stern first in about 800ft at 72" 05N, 35" 02E. (PEARCE says 71" 51N, 35" 10E and that the fore part broke away, clearly it didn't but was this the superstructure coming off? He continues by saying that stem rose in the air.)
In preparation for the salvage of the gold in 1981 a video was taken of the wreck which revealed a number of surprising features. In particular, virtually the whole of the superstructure, masts and funnels had gone, separated neatly, as with a knife.
The ship lies on her port side in 220 metres. A model made by the salvage team is
held by Jon WENZEL, Curator of HMS Belfast, and this shows the after funnel and mast detached but alongside.)
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HMS Harrier then fired twenty 4" shells at her, but she refused to sink. An attempt to have her sunk by depth charges also failed.
Finally, HMS
Foresight fired her last torpedo at her, which made her sink.
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Frank.