Time of the expedition wasn't chosen accidentally; May holidays are good because you can spend about 10-12 days for your good and others.
Place of the expedition is the northwest coast of the black sea, in 100 km to the south from Odessa near Budakskiy Gulf.
The idea of making an underwater expedition in this region appeared 4 years ago because of a large number of sunken objects in a small area of water. The place is rather shallow; depths are about 15-20 meters.

Historical review.
There were Russian submarines' stands in the area from Odessa to Sulin (a Romanian city) during the war 1941-1945. The German and Romanian transport with war cargo moved near shore to be imperceptible against its background. The area of water along the convoy routes was much full of minefields, and fleet moved on the lee of gunboats, but nevertheless our submariners managed to find passageways in minefields and ruin enemy convoys.
A huge number of fascist transports never reached a place of destination. And our submariners were not always lucky. 2 submarines of "M": "M-118" class (Captain, lieutenant commander Savin S.S.) and "M-31" class (Captain, lieutenant commander Rastochil E.G.) perished in that aria. Submarines of "M" class were often called "My little one" in the navy according to its first letter.

Short tactics-technical descriptions of small "M" class submarines.

Tonnage:
Above-water 205 tons
Underwater 240 tons

Length 42 meters

Width 3.30 meters

Immersion in above-water position 2.58 meters

Engine power 685 l.s.

Maximum speed:
Above-water 13,5 knots
Underwater 8 knots

Maximum diving depth 60 meters

Equipment:
2 torpedoes 533 mm
1 cannon 45 mm

Crew 21 men
And the day of departure (26th of April) to the holding place of VIII underwater expedition of the club "NEPTUN-PRO" came. As usual, we went by own cars, plus "KAMAZ" with equipment of the expedition. There were cylinders, compressors, boats, tents and a lot of that kind one can't do without in the expedition. As the expedition was noncommercial and devoted to memory of the black sea sailors, died during the Great World War, we expected to find assistance at frontier guards and customs officials, but it happened vice versa. Our "KAMAZ" was held for 8 hours on the Russian side. Not taken any copeck, but marred our nerves, they allowed us to pass the border. But the border of Ukraine we passed for 30 minutes, just customs official came to us and said that we would not have any problem for 100$. We exerted ourselves and found money, and problems really disappeared. We thought that ancestries of all those services fought against us. On territory of Ukraine there were not almost road officials, so we hadn't got any more adventures to the place of destination. In Odessa our friends from a dive-club "Poseydon" met us, and they were also participants of the expedition from the Ukrainian side.
So, the main aim of our underwater archeological expedition "Tolyatii - Odessa 2002" was:
1. to find and investigate a group of sunken objects in radius of 10 miles from Cape Budaki to village Lebedevka;
2. to identify ships in the case of their finding;
3. to pay last memory respects to sailors, died in waters of the black sea.

Historical review.
During the cold day (on the 1st of October, 1942) a Soviet submarine "M-118", being on its stand near Cape Budaki, torpedoed a German transport "Zaltsburg"; its tonnage was 2257 tons.
According to the German data there was a cargo of empty barrels and 810 tons of coal on ship's board. And according to the Russian data the ship carried 2300 Soviet prisoners of war. After "Zaltsburg" sank, the guard ships could save 16 Germans, 47 Rumanians, 132 prisoners of war, just a few could get the shore. Not less than 2080 war prisoners of ours perished. We haven't got right to accuse that the submarine killed such a large number of Soviet soldiers. A captain of "My little one" was given an order to annihilate the enemy's transports by any means, and he didn't know about cargo. From the campaign's beginning to the end the submarine hadn't got any contact outside. After it torpedoed transport, the submarine lied on the bottom during 2,5 hours according to the German data. After a specialist's report on hydroacoustics a captain of the submarine Savin S.S. decided that there wouldn't be a pursuit and the submarine began submerging to the depth by slow speed transversely to shore. The crew didn't know that there was an enemy hydroplane "Arado-196" above the place of tragedy.
And it noticed the trail of churning silt, made by submarines' screws. The plane threw 2 bombs, but it didn't fix a hit. Rumanian gunboats "Lokonent Commander Stikhi Eugen" and "Subloconent Gikulesku Konstantin" were called by radio, which threw 7 deep-sea bombs. Wood parts and pieces of uniform appeared on the surface. Rumanians threw a buoy. Next day divers arrived to that place, but they found nothing. Often, during the war, our submariners threw old uniform and wood pieces, poured out a small amount of black oil through torpedo tubes to confuse the enemy. The enemy, seeing supposedly trails of submarine's sinking, stopped a pursuit and returned to the center. But the submarine, lied down on the bottom during 2 hours, continued its hunt.
We would like to believe it was just like that, but the fact was the submarine didn't return from that campaign…
Our task was to find "Zaltsburg" and "M-118".
The black sea met us with a little roughness (3-4 wind force) and a fog.
We thought that there would be no problems in finding of the first object, as a buoy should have been above it. Maps were saying that, and local frontier guards confirmed the same; but spent a whole day in search, we understood that there wasn't a buoy there. Next day we used a side-looking sonar and according to GPS coordinates we were looking for the object during 30 minutes. Transport, towering up on 10 meters above the bottom, lied on the depth of 14 meters.
The boat with a search group was sent for by radio. In 30 minutes after the diving start first searchers of the object returned. There was a vessel under us; its length was 135 meters, its width was 25 meters, and course was 221 degrees. The vessel was very destroyed, the fore was ripped and it careened to the right side, there were not anchors, just chains reached the bottom. Probably, because of the explosion, they were ripped from their places. The holds were afloat to covers; almost nothing was left after a deckhouse. There were some boxes with 37 mm German anti-aircraft. The cargo wasn't discovered. Compared our scouts' data with data of war hydrographs it became clear - it was transport "Zaltsburg". Most likely a torpedo hit the right side - signs of maximum destruction were seen. One, but with a low probability, could make a conclusion that the submarine should be from the right side of the sunken transport.
Next day we found 2 new objects, but no one was a submarine. The first object was a transport vessel about 100 meters long; its width was 22-25 meters. There was less destruction on it as compared with "Zaltsburg". The underwater visibility was 8-10 meters. The depth was 15 meters. Remoteness from shore was 6 km. The cargo was large barrels nearly 3 meters in diameter. Some of the barrels were left all over the vessel. Sacks with something hard were remained. The upper part of a deckhouse was destroyed. Human remains were found in one of the left side cabins, and there was also a bottle out of Greek wine there. There were boxes with 20 mm German explosive shells near prow lodgments. The stern and the prow of the vessel were rather well kept. A strange device with a bulb nearer the captain's cabin (as we guessed) was discovered. An inscription on the bulb was: "made in U.S.A. General Electric". Later, under the careful examination, the device proved to be an ordinary refrigerator for ice. Compared our data about the object with data of hydrographic service we ascertained a name of the vessel - "Theodorix".

Historical review.
"Theodorix" was a former Soviet steamboat of the black sea steam navigation, according to one version it was "Kherson" (1912), according to another one - "Volochaevka".
Both were sunk during a retreat by the Soviet Army in August 1941 in Kherson and they were lifted up by Germans. A first passage of the vessel was under the German ensign. It moved as a part of convoy (2 transports under the screen of 6 ships). At 13:57 a Soviet submarine "M-111" in the area of Budakskiy firth attacked it (Captain, lieutenant commander Iosseliani Ya. K.). After the torpedo's hit, the vessel was broken in two, but it left floatable; 6 men were dead. Germans sent a life detachment consisting of 3 towboats, 1 lighter and 2 safeguarding ships, but they couldn't save the vessel. Later Germans took off 20 mm submachine guns, breech-mechanisms from 75 mm and 37 mm guns, and navigational aids too. Under the vessel's examination we didn't find the residuary guns. Probably, they were also taken off, but it wasn't mentioned about.
Meantime, some participants of the expedition tried to find eyewitnesses of those years among natives. According to the received information, if we even delete the most part as artistic figment, after "Zaltsburg" sinking (natives name it "a barge") a huge amount of dead bodies was casted ashore. Figures are rather discrepant: from 400 to 1000 men. In village "Lebedevka" a native showed us an approximate burial place of those who were casted from the "barge". Contours of 2 graves 30 meters in width and length are seen. Here are nameless heroes, whose names in lists of that war mean as disappear without a trace. Paid last memory respects and placed flowers, we continue our survey.
The next vessel, found by our search boat in 14 km from shore, probably doesn't belong to the Great World War. This is a large steam vessel 120-140 meters in length with one screw, very destroyed. The ship's prow with a large admiralty anchor, 2 steam boilers with bronze water-heating funnels and a reduction gear are well preserved. But in general, this is a shapeless mass of rusty iron. According to the archival data nothing was found.
2 days before the expedition's ending two more last ships were found in that area. One of them belongs to time of the First World War and the second one is rather interesting - the ship is in good fettle, 50-60 meters in length, 12-14 meters in width, lies its bottom up. It's a flatboat; hatches in the bottom are open. From one side one can get into a deckhouse. There is no cargo. There is a large round hole in 6-7 meters diameter in the prow, probably received from torpedo's hit. According to the archival data 23.08.1942 a submarine "M-36" (Captain, lieutenant commander Komarov V.N.) from the distance of 4-6 cables sent a steamboat "Ankara" to the bottom in this area. But sizes of a found vessel don't correspond to this description. Moreover, fellows taken off a device with an inscription "Kiev. Plant of precision instruments" in an engine-room, made things much more unclear in vessel's determination. It's necessary to work in archives.
Although, we surveyed all the area, the submarine wasn't discovered. Probably, our mistake in search was that we were looking for "My little one" transversely to shore near transport "Zaltsburg", but the submarine sank at the shore, or, got some serious damage, the submarine continued to move to the base, but it didn't reach that place and sank far from the place of our search. Some natives with one accord asserted that not far from shore in the area of Cape Burnas (it was in 25 km from the place of "Zaltsburg" wreck) they saw a fragment of the submarine (a prow with screw control complex) in shallow water, but we hadn't already got time to check those data. May holidays came to the end, all participants of the expedition were awaited work at home, and it was time to return home.
But we are not going to stop on reached and soon we will continue to search "My little one" without fail to pay last memory respects to the crew. There were 21 men there.
And the nearest plans of the club are - in summer 2002 it's planned to hold an expedition "Memorial-2002".
The aim of an impending expedition is:
to go by handmade catamaran on route Rostov-on-Don - Sochi;
to search and identify sunken vessels of the Great World War;
to pay last memory respects who fought for independence of our Motherland during the war, who was killed or disappeared without a trace, who found his last refuge in waters of Azov and the black sea.
The more detailed information about "Memorial 2002" you can find on the site: www.memorial2002.narod.ru, where letters from veterans already begin to come.

Director of the expedition: Elkin Alexander

President of the club "NEPTUN-PRO": Dolgov Stanislav

"NEPTUN-PRO"