Project SS "Pionier"

Presentation

Dansk Deutsch

In September 1998 Thomas Nielsen from No Limits Diving got the idea to locate and explore the wreck of the German steamship SS "Pionier". The wreck was reported sunk in 122 meters of water, North of Skagen, Denmark.   Neither one knew the exact location of the wreck nor had dived it before, so in all it was a big challenge to undertake. Was it possible to locate the wreck? Could such deep dives be performed in cold water? These and many other questions were to be solved before taking off into the deep. The project was the first of its kind in Scandinavia and the dives became some of the deepest cold water wreck dives in the world.   It took 9 months of careful preparation, which primarily was spent on gathering historical information, surveying the wreck and preparing the dives and the safety precautions needed to safely conduct such extreme dives.   During the period of 1st to 11th July 1999 the team was on site in Skagen, where the actual project and dives were performed.     On the 9th July 1999 the first team of divers reached the wreck and saw the SS "Pionier" for the first time, since it was torpedoed back in 1940. Later that day another team performed a successful dive. Maximum depth that day was 110 meters (335 FSW).   On the 10th the dives continued and again two teams explored the wreck reaching a maximum depth of 120 meters (366 FSW). A lot of observations were made and the divers were happily back on board the diving vessel after completing an in water decompression lasting about 3 hours.   Although the weather didn’t allow the team to do all the planned dives, the project was a big success, which confirmed the name of the wreck. It also proved that deep mixed gas dive projects in Scandinavia was possible. ___ In July 2010 Thomas Nielsen got an unique opportunity to visit the wreck of SS "Pionier". On this occasion the wreck was inspected by multi beam sonar and ROV. This inspection concludes on No Limits Divings activities at the wreck site. Read more SS Pionier 2010 - the final chapter.

Objective Research Preparations Project plan Project results Project photos SS Pionier 2010 - the final chapter

nolimitsdiving (c) 1999-2010

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