The UK government is progressing legislation that will expand the protection given to military wrecks. The proposed update, currently moving through Parliament, would see a significant expansion to the current law: the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
The extraordinary range of wrecks is one of the key draws for divers in the UK. So should we be worried about these potential changes?
The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986
The current legislation offers two levels of protection for military wrecks across the UK. Wrecks can either be designated a Protected Place, where diving is permitted but nothing can be removed and the wreck cannot be penetrated, or a Controlled Site, where all diving is banned without a licence from the Ministry of Defence.
Under both levels of protection, sites must be formally designated, meaning they have to be named in the legislation and, for Controlled Sites, a position and exclusion zone must be given. Therefore, if new wrecks need to be added, this would require an update to be passed through Parliament — an unnecessary and time-consuming process. This last happened in 2019 when eight German First World War submarines were added as Protected Places.
Expanded Wreck Protection
The proposed changes are being introduced as part of a wide-reaching new Armed Forces Bill. Regarding wrecks, its intention is to make all military wrecks Protected Places by default, removing the need to add specific wrecks by name. This change would dramatically increase the number of wrecks given legislative protection.
The new legislation will also remove the current 200-year limit within which vessels must have sunk to be eligible for protection. Again, this will broaden the scope of wrecks offered protection.
Crucially for divers, the update is not planned to change or add any wrecks to the list of Controlled Sites. So there shouldn’t be any additional sites where diving is actually banned.
Should Divers Be Worried?
I think these proposed changes are well intentioned, clearly aiming to expand protection and reduce the administrative burden of preserving the UK’s rich underwater heritage. There is a long history of divers ‘salvaging’ artefacts from wrecks, which is both damaging (for future divers) and disrespectful to any lives lost.
While the intention may be good, there are some practicalities that clearly still need to be worked through. For example, what happens if the identity of a wreck is unknown? Will divers have to assume it’s a military wreck until it is positively identified?
Another problem I can see lies in the definitions. What actually constitutes a military wreck? There is plenty of room for debate here. Throughout both World Wars there was a significant blurring of the lines between military and civilian vessels. Notable examples include armed merchant cruisers, civilian ships with military personnel on board, and defensively equipped merchant ships (DEMS), civilian ships fitted with defensive armaments.
At this stage, there are more questions than answers about what this law will look like when (and if) it is actually enacted. Positively, the BSAC is engaging with the relevant authorities on behalf of the diving community to ensure that legitimate questions from divers are heard.
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