Diving on the wreck site
Diving on the wreck known as the Submarine Chaser (Ścigacz) requires special permission issued by the Maritime Office in Gdynia. The wreck lies on the seabed, tilted to the left side at an angle of about 30°. The depth at the bottom is 41 meters, with the shallowest point on the wreck being 37 meters—this is the edge of the deck on the starboard side in the central part of the hull.
The wreck has a wooden hull and sides, but its frame is made of steel, which can be observed on the starboard side in the bow section by looking inside through holes exposed by the hull covering falling off. The wreck lies in one piece on the seabed, measuring 24 meters in length and 6.4 meters in width. There are many nets covering the deck's equipment. The nets also cover parts of the superstructure and the anti-aircraft gun, likely 3.7 cm caliber, which was mounted on the deck. Parts of equipment have been pulled from the deck to the left side, probably as a result of trawling by fishing gear. In front of the bow on the deck and near the stern on the seabed, there are objects resembling barrels, that are actually depth charges which the ship was equipped with.
Interesting and worth viewing parts of the wreck include the rudder equipped with distinctive thickenings and the propeller located behind the rudder closer to the hull, as well as the mine float resembling a large cigar, which lies on the deck in the bow area, above which was once a gun mount before it got pulled down by nets. Visibility on the wreck is usually good, but you can sometimes experience currents on the site.
Story
The history of this vessel is best described by citing the article "Unknown KFK from the Gdańsk Bay" published in the magazine “Odkrywca” and written by historian Łukasz Orlicki, head of the Department of Archival and Field Research at the Institute of Historical and Regional Research and editor of “Odkrywca” and “Archeologia Żywa”.
"A year ago, on July 28, 2022, the research team of Odkrywca along with the Dive Land crew set out aboard the ship Bryza 1 from the port of Hel. The mission was to search select areas of the Gdańsk Bay where we had registered several interesting positions. One of them was very intriguing. Less than 5 miles southeast of the port of Hel, at a depth of about 40 meters, lay the wreck of an unidentified vessel.”
Photogrammetry
In 2023, divers from the Submerged Foundation, specializing in underwater photogrammetry, joined our team. Bartłomiej Pitala, who had already created several photogrammetric models of wrecks, dived on the wreck. Unlike standard photographic documentation, this method provides a full, detailed image of the wreck, even better than the multi-beam sonar used for this purpose. The photos taken during the dive allowed Bartłomiej Pitala to achieve results that we could only dream about before. Thanks to the photogrammetric model, we were able to conduct a thorough analysis of the wreck’s appearance, structure, and equipment, confirming that the wreck under the sea was one of the Kriegsmarine’s KFK vessels.
KFK – The Workhorse of the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsfischkutter (KFK) translates to 'war fishing cutter,' and the name reflects the German Navy’s concept of an auxiliary warship that could be “demobilized” during peace to serve as a civilian fishing boat. But during the war, its cargo would not be fish but minesweeping gear, ammunition, and military equipment. Over 600 KFKs were built to become one of the primary vessels of Kriegsmarine. They were serving various roles such as convoy escort, port protection, patrol duties, laying and maintaining net barriers, minesweeping, participating in special transport operations, and combating enemy submarines. It was a simple, cost-effective, and functional design that met the German Navy’s needs. In June 1944, KFK vessels were given the second-highest priority in construction right after submarines. They operated everywhere the Kriegsmarine reached, from the Black Sea to Arctic waters. Their functionality was appreciated even after the war when many KFKs were taken by victors. Many KFKs can still be found at sea today.
Identification
In 1945, the Gdańsk Bay, which had been a safe area for the German Navy since 1939, became a battleground. German ships were attacked from both the air and underwater. Even KFK ships participated in this battle, escorting ships, sweeping mines, repelling submarines, and even engaging in fierce artillery duels with Soviet gunboats. Their greatest achievement became nighttime transport operations, where they ferried tens of thousands of German soldiers and civilians fleeing the Red Army. Officially, only one KFK wreck is known in the area between Hel and the Tri-City, accessible for recreational diving previously known as the “gunboat” (Kanonierka) as it still appears under this name on diving websites and the wreck list of the Maritime Office in Gdynia. Our research identified a second KFK. Based on sources and studies, it was determined that four 'war cutters' were irretrievably lost in this part of the Baltic Sea:
- KFK 169 (UJ 322) on May 5, 1945 (in an air attack),
- KFK 307 on May 8, 1945 (in an air attack),
- KFK 324 (Vs 165) on December 21, 1944 (in a collision with a German submarine),
- KFK 532 (UJ 301) on April 8, 1944 (in an air and artillery attack)—currently believed to be the former “gunboat”.
Hypothesis
Considering the collected information and materials on the wreck's damages, position on the seabed, and the rudder fin set to 'starboard,' which corresponds to a situation that would happen when trying to avoid a collision from the port side, we speculate that this may be the KFK 324 (Vs 165), which sank on December 21, 1944, after colliding with the German submarine U-1196 under the command of obersteuermann Garrasch. This is just a hypothesis that requires further diving and research to confirm."
You can read the rest of the article here: https://www.e-kiosk.pl/numer,419596,odkrywca (article in Polish)
Read about the beginning of the search for KFK https://www.e-kiosk.pl/?page=issue&id_issue=393490#page-0 (article in Polish)
Technical Specifications
Length: 24 m
Width: 6.25–6.4 m
Engine: 4- or 5-cylinder diesel engine
Armaments (varied based on needs): 2–4 anti-aircraft guns (2 or 3.7 cm), machine guns, 6 depth charges (sometimes more)
Equipment: radio station, radio direction finder, generators supporting minesweeping gear, sonar equipment for submarine detection
Crew: 15–18 sailors
Text by: Kamil Stankiewicz
Translation: Szymon Rydzewski
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