Scuba diving in the waters around Sharm El Sheik

The SS Thistlegorm was a British merchant navy ship built in 1940. She was armed with a 4.7-inch (120mm) anti-aircraft gun and a heavy calibre machine gun that was attached after construction to the stern of the ship.
The Thistlegorm made three successful voyages after the launch in 1940. The first voyage was to the United States to pick up aircraft parts and rails. The second was to Argentina to collect grain and the third voyage was to the West Indies for rum. Prior to the fourth and last voyage the SS Thistlegorm had undergone repairs in Glasgow.

The SS Thistlgorm left Glasgow on 2 June 1941 with Alexandria Egypt as destination. Because of all the German and Italian naval and aircraft activity in the Mediterranean Sea, the SS Thistlegorm sailed, as part of a convoy, via Capetown, South Africa. Due to a collision in the Suez Canal the convoy could not reach Alexandria and stayed on the Red Sea near Sharm El Sheik until the beginning of October 1941. German Intelligence suspected there was a troop carrier in the Red Sea area. They send out two Heinkel He-111 aircraft from Crete to search for the troop carrier, but instead they found the convoy of which the SS Thistlegorm was part. The aircraft relaesed bombs that hit the Thistlegorm. The merchant ship sank near Ras Muhammad and took all the cargo with it to the bottom of the Red Sea. Part of the cargo were Norton and BSA motorcycles, Bedford trucks and Bren guns. All these items are still there and can be explored during scuba diving.