San Didier Wreck

The "St. Didier" is known as "Societe" as well. It's a freighter build in 1920 at Livingstone & Copper shipyard with a lenght of 70m and a beam of 12m. She has been under French flag and has been confiscated by the Germans during WW II. They used her, camouflaged as a hospital ship, for transport of supplies for their Africa Corps. On board have been Jeeps, guns, ammunition and other war materiel. With an escort of one destroyer she tried to reach Africa, while permanently and heavily attacked by allied aircrafts coming from Cyprus. Trying to get out of these attacks, together with their escort, she came close to the Turkish shore. While permanently attacked, both ships rechead the area of Adrasan, about 40 miles southwest of Antalya. Meanwhile the "St. Didier" was heavily damaged and nearly unable to continue their voyage. The escorting destroyer had to leave the "St. Didier" in attempt to rescue himself. The "St. Didier" tried to reach the harbour of Antalya in attempt to ask for asylum in Turkey. They still had the permisson of the Turkish authorities to wait in sight of the horbour for asylum. Meanwhile the French crew throwed away their uniforms and renamed the ship to "Societe", in hope not to be attacked any more. But they couldn't mislead the allied Mustangs. While the ship was only a few hundred metres off the shore and obviously in Turkish territorial waters, they continued their attacks and torpedoed the ship. Many residents of Antalya watched the attacks from the harbour and because many torpedoes missed their aim and one exploded directly in the harbour, one Turkish citizen was killed as well. Finally one torpedo hit the ship in an area where a lot of explosives were loaded. The following explosion lead to a giant hole in the ship. While sinking, a lot of seamen died. The others reached the shore or have been picked up by Turkish fishing boats. In accordance with international rules they have been brought to a camp near Isparta, but without status as prisoners. Today the wreck is lying within short distance of Antalya harbour at a depth of 20 - 32m. During excavations in 1946 and 1974, a major part of the ship's cargo was discovered, including ammunition and medical equipment. Although there is little left in the submerged ship, it is still attracting much interest from divers, and permission is required from the Antalya Goverment and Marine Police Department. San Didier Wreck is also known as Societe Wreck.