---
title: Thistlegorm
type: Wreck dive site
location: Sharm el-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt
coordinates: 27.814199447631836, 33.91999816894531
max_depth_m: 30
published: 2023-11-25T21:59:56.557Z
updated: 2026-09-06T15:02:03.453Z
tags: Thistlegorm, Wreck, Red Sea, Dive site, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/diving/dive-sites/thistlegorm
---

# Thistlegorm

## Quick facts

- **Type:** Wreck
- **Location:** Sharm el-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt
- **Coordinates:** 27.814199447631836, 33.91999816894531
- **Max depth:** 30 m
- **Depth notes:** 30m
- **Level:** Expert

## Good to know

- Best for advanced divers
- Expert-level dive

## Overview

The Thistlegorm was destroyed by her own cargo. A German bomber found her at anchor in Sha'ab Ali in October 1941, and the bombs set off the ammunition stowed in hold 4. The explosion tore the stern apart and threw the two locomotives she carried on deck clear of the ship, and they lie on the sand on either side of the hull. That is why the wreck reads so plainly on the bottom: the damage shows exactly what was in her.

## Location

In the Straits of Gubal, about 42 km west-southwest of Sharm el-Sheikh.

## Conditions

Current over the wreck can be strong and shifts through the day. The seabed lies at 30 m. Experience is expected, and most operators treat it as a two-dive site rather than one.

## Dive plan

She sits upright, bow intact and stern blown open, and most dives are planned around the holds rather than the outside of the hull. The cargo is the reason to go in: Bedford trucks with motorcycles still stacked in their beds, Lee Enfield rifles, ammunition, boots and aircraft wings, stowed as they were loaded for the North African campaign.

The two locomotives lie on the sand off either side, thrown there by the explosion. The Rosalie Moller went down two days later a few miles away, and the two wrecks are often dived on the same trip.

## What to see

After more than eighty years the structure carries heavy growth: soft corals on the railings and masts, glassfish filling the holds, and batfish and jacks holding station over the deck. Barracuda and large groupers work the outside of the hull.

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/diving/dive-sites/thistlegorm)*
*Updated: September 6, 2026*