The orignial sinking location of HMS CAROLINE where the forward section is reported to remain insitu dispersed to seabed level (see HMS CAROLINE AFT SECTION, NPRN 273248). A control box, porthole and a shellcase have been recovered and reported to the Receiver of Wreck.

For information on the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 Act and its administration with regard to vessels, please contact the Ministry of Defence, Wreck Section, Naval Personnel Secretariat, Room 125 Victory Building, HMNB Portsmouth, PO1 3LS.

Event and Historical Information:
The CAROLINE was a steel trawler built by N. V. Schps V/h Bonn & Mees, Rotterdam in 1930 (Larn suggests 1937 for the date of build) and registered at Ijmuiden. Technical and configuration specification at time of build are given as 253gt, 93nt, screw propulsion provided by a single steam boiler and triple expansion engine producing 84hp. Sources also suggest that the trawler was named JOHANNA CAROLINE (Goddard: 118). The CAROLINE had been hired by the Royal Navy in 1940 and coverted into a minesweeper. The vessel had been provided with a Dutch crew and was undertaking a a routine patrol when it detonated a German laid mine off Milford Haven, bearing 224 degrees, 13.6 cables from Great Castle Head, and sank. Three bodies were recovered, including the commanding officer Lt. J van Bueren Lensinck. These were later buried in Milford Haven cemetery. The aft section was moved to deeper water in April 1955 and dispersal of the remainder was was undertaken by HMS STEEPLEHOLM with explosives in October 1955.

Sources include:
Goddard, T, 1983, Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks, pg118
HMSO, 1988, British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-18 and 1939-45, pg14
Larn and Larn Shipwreck database 2002