Charybdis Catastrophe The Beginning of the Tunnel

The first ever opening article in the premier issue of Wreck Diving Magazine was named “The End of the Tunnel” in bold lettering. The wording that followed read: “Returning to French territorial waters, the British Trimix team responsible for the exploration of HMS Charybdis are now challenged with the new task of locating HMS Limbourne, the final missing chapter of the story of “Operation Tunnel” - text and photos by Leigh Bishop.”

For me what would become a longstanding writing career with had been triggered by half a story! In many ways it suggested the reader was familiar with the team’s previous exploration of HMS and was now ready to read all about the final chapter of an on-going story. The feature focused on the diving and exploration of HMS , a warship that sank during an ill-fated engagement named “Operation Tunnel” against German forces. The article did, however, explain that alongside that fateful night in October 1943 another, much larger warship had been sunk also with great loss of life - the cruiser HMS . Both vessels had been searched for and explored at great depth by the same team of trimix divers on two, very separate expeditions spread a year apart. Both ships are part of the same story. Both names roll off naval historians’ tongues as if they