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Les  photos and film of the wreckage

At the bottom of this page there is a form to send your comments on  these images. Do not hesitate, especially if it contributes to a better understanding of what we see there. the film is below the pictures.

Photos épave
The wreckage filmed by an AUV drone
(explanations below the frame of the film)
Film épave

Below are some stills from the video. The times indicated are those appearing on the video next to Time

Epave de la Minerve - 13

12:59:32 

Opinion 1 Maybe it's the air tube without the head valve  (the element at the top of the screen being the upper part of the air tube).

​Notice 2: The air tube would be at the rear of the massif, with the whip antenna at its side and the snorkel escape tube at the rear end of the massif. Can't see these items? It seems that we can see the whip antenna well on other views. It would rather be the front of the massif with the airlock of the APV (Periscopic Monitoring Antenna);

Epave de la Minerve - 14

13 :06 :34

TLT (Torpedo Launcher Tube) exterior port aft. We can clearly see the outer door and the maneuvering rods on top of the torpedo tube, bronze material (as a reminder 4 outer torpedo tubes at the rear). But is it a TLT of the rear end two or the middle rear two ?

Epave de la Minerve - 15

13 :13 :30

The three tanks are HP Air Group No. 3 located on the outside under the deck plate on the front of the submarine.

Epave de la Minerve - 16

13 :18 :38

Other aft starboard exterior torpedo tube.

Epave de la Minerve - 17

13 :20 :42

HP air tank or launch air tank of an aft outer torpedo tube.

Epave de la Minerve - 18

13 :25 :08

Another port aft exterior torpedo tube.

Epave de la Minerve - 19

13 :26 :00       _cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_   

Control of one of the dive or rudder bars (aircraft style joystick) in the bottom left of the image.

Epave de la Minerve - 21

13 :28 :37

Opinion 1Part of the massif seen from starboard with,   at the front  and therefore on the left on the screen therefore,   a mast which would be the APV (Periscopic Surveillance Antenna = radar) without the parabolic part.

Notice 2At the front it would rather be the ARUR.

Epave de la Minerve - 20

13 :32:51

Same part of the massif but seen from the port side. We can clearly see the leftmost attack periscope (on the right half of the image)   and, to its right, the standby periscope, the 2 slightly bent to the right ( they are bent to port, see next image).  We also observe that the watch periscope is in bearing 0, that is to say in the axis of the submarine. it was an instruction before returning the standby periscope : it guaranteed,  during the next resumption of view, to start from a safe reference and kept the initial overview(s) to see if there was any immediate danger. 

If the submarine left the periscopic immersion due to an incident, the fact that all the masts were retracted testifies to the strict application of the normal measures taken during the descent after a passage to the periscopic immersion.

Epave de la Minerve - 22

13 :33 :39

Same view of the massif but from the front. We see the locations of the bow and port navigation lights.   It seems that this part of the solid mass has been torn from the submarine : it is no longer joined to the thick hull but placed alongside. The three-lobed airlock and the access airlock (resistant like the thick hull) are welded to the thick hull : this would be   a structural weak point_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ which could explain this separation.  C'est  la partie du massif  qui est sur l'avant de celle de  la 1ère_cc781905 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_photo où l'on lit  « MIN » et «_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b -136bad5cf58d_S ”.

Epave de la Minerve - 1

13:34:54 

That would be the air tube. The guide tube for the instrumentation and pneumatic cables appears twisted at the top of the image. A cable appearing green severed at the base of the back of the massif seems to continue in this "guide tube".

Epave de la Minerve - 2

13 :40 :35 

Part of massif with the letters.

Epave de la Minerve - 4

13 :44 :55

This would be the top of the whip antenna, next to the snorkel exhaust pipes. Indeed in the previous views from the top of the massif, we did not see its rear with the whip antenna, the snorkel exhaust and….the air tube schnorchel ? We therefore do not see the back of the massif.

Epave de la Minerve - 3

13 :50 :32

Upturned aft superstructure (aft deck) with the anchor light in the middle.

Epave de la Minerve - 6

13 :54 :39  - 13 :56_cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_:52        

Battery room partition elements. The “ cloisonnements ” welded to the thick hull that appear are coated with non-combustible, pitch-based paint.

Epave de la Minerve - 5

14 :10 :50

Mesh metal elements (arranged in superstructures : various housings)

Epave de la Minerve - 7

14 :27 :05  -_cc781905-5cde-4515d_bad:0 

Stern   of the submarine (the TLTs have been detached) lying to starboard. You can clearly see the rudder as well as the port propeller. The rupture of the rear frame explains why the propeller shaft is no longer   supported on the rudder.

Epave de la Minerve - 8

14 :38 :09

Notice 1 Interior of the rear compartment with a plastic bottle to the left of the white plate

Notice 2 The plastic bottle looks more like a glass carafe used for wine or water in the back seat. For the white plate, it is possible that it is one of the shelves of the furniture of the OM station.

.

Epave de la Minerve - 9

16 :05 :34  - 16 :08 :10

Lower part of the bow lying to starboard. We can clearly see the GCO2 microphone array (passive sonar) : flat, it reveals some hydrophones. The bow flaps of TLT cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ were torn from their hinges at the front and separated from the front door rollers of the tubes. We can clearly see that the front door of tube 2 (the most towards the top) is closed."

Epave de la Minerve - 12

16 :08 :30

Upper part of the bow lying to starboard with the bow flaps erased. We also see the base of the active sonar.

Epave de la Minerve - 11

16 :09 :25 - 16 :13_cc781905-945-bad-315-bad

Continuity of the bow with the upper front part.

Epave de la Minerve - 10

16 :13 :39

c lower part of the bow lying to starboard (continuation of 16 :05 :34 to 16_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58-de7_:194-de78 bb3b-136bad5cf58d_:10).

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