USS ROANOKE

Protected Area

Holyhead Mountain

Why dive here

With 118+ marine species recorded in the area - including dolphins, dwarf minke whales, humpback whales, ocean sunfish (mola mola) and orcas - USS ROANOKE offers some of Northumberland & Northeast's richest wreck diving.

Marine lifeDolphins, Dwarf Minke Whales, Humpback Whales, Ocean Sunfish (Mola Mola) and Orcas · 118+ species recorded

CharacterWreck dive · max 49m

StandoutRich in charismatic marine life

The USS Roanoke is a proper deep dive, sitting upright at 49 metres off the Northumberland coast. We love a wreck with a story, and this US Army provision ship, torpedoed by U-1055 in 1945, definitely has one. It’s an imposing sight, the bow split wide where the torpedo hit, spilling its cargo of jeeps and trucks onto the seabed. You'll find yourself drifting past huge plates of steel, now heavily encrusted, with plumose anemones waving like tiny flags from every surface. Our favourite part has to be the sheer scale of it; you can penetrate the hold areas, imagining what it must have been like when she went down. Expect to see cod and ling lurking in the darker recesses, and sometimes a curious grey seal might make an appearance. This dive is best suited for experienced cold-water wreck divers comfortable with deco obligations and variable North Sea visibility. Go on a slack tide, otherwise, you'll be fighting a significant current.