Geograph - photograph every grid square

The submarine is a German U-boat, probably UB122, which was confiscated after Germany’s surrender at the end of WW1. In its day it carried ten torpedoes and 34 crew, who must have been pretty snug in such a relatively small submersible.

After confiscation, the U-boat was taken to Halling on the River Medway, where the engines were removed for other uses, and the conning tower detached. In 1921 the submarine was being towed downstream when it broke free and stranded in Humble Bee Creek, where it remains to this day.

This submarine is believed to be the only WW1 U-boat wreck still visible on the British coastline. It is now protected by the mud that prevented it from being salvaged back in 1921, and there are no plans to move it.

In order to locate the sub follow the line of Bee Ness Jetty towards the shore. The submarine is at about the halfway mark, roughly 400 metres to the north east of the jetty, mostly hidden behind a small scrap of seamarsh. At high water, much of the submarine is underwater. At low water, exposed mud means the submarine cannot be reached by boat.