Project Cardonnet aims to investigate and record the WW2 Operation NEPTUNE wrecks of the Banc du Cardonnet, located in the Baie de Seine, Normandy. This ambitious project investigated two wrecks of US Landing Craft Tanks which were lost as they approached UTAH Beach as part of Operation NEPTUNE. US Landing Craft Tank (LCT(5) 458 and LCT(6) 593) both sank when they struck German mines and resulted in a tragic loss of life.
Shortly before dawn on 6 June 1944 eight US Navy LCTs carrying the 70th Tank Battalion’s DD tanks approached UTAH beach. As LCT(6) 593, with four of Company A’s DD Sherman tanks aboard, passed over the shallow Banc du Cardonnet it detonated an enormous German mine and was instantly broken in two. The power from the massive explosion propelled her men, vehicles and equipment into the air. Many lives were lost.
Just over 4 hours later LCT(5) 458 sank after hitting another mine while running into the beach. She was carrying 4 x M-7 Priests and supporting vehicles of Battery B, 29th Field Artillery. Many men lost their lives as the landing craft and her cargo of armoured fighting vehicles sank below the waves.
We were aware that in order to record and document the wrecks we would require permission from the Département des Recherches Archéologiques Subaquatiques et Sous-Marines (DRASSM). This was a daunting task as communications and application forms were necessarily to be conducted in French. Thankfully the Google translate site proved to be fairly reliable but we also contacted a former club member (Alain Demairé) who kindly provided a much needed conduit for conversations and his support to our project was highly valued.
Cécile Sauvage at DRASSM advised that in order to conduct the project all divers were required to obtain certification by the Institut National Plongee Professionnelle (INPP) equivalence at Level 1B. This required medical endorsement from a Hyperbaric Doctor and CMAS 3* or HSE commercial diver equivalence. Of the 8 divers who applied for INPP certification 7 were awarded INPP Level 1B. The other recreational divers who were part of the group were not permitted to dive on the same site at the same time that the project divers.
We are most grateful for the support of the British Sub-aqua Jubilee Fund and The BSAC Expedition Grant Scheme for their generous support ot the Expedition.
For this project, members of the Project Cardonnet team were awarded the BSAC Expeditions Trophy 2018.To read our news report, click here. To read the BSAC’s news story, click here.
To read more about the BSAC Expeditions Trophy, click here.