ROYAL Navy and RFA ships which sank with the loss of thousands of men are to be given greater protection against disturbance and trophy-hunting divers.

Dr Lewis Moonie, Under Secretary of State for Defence, has announced that a two-tier system will be instigated under the auspices of the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

Anyone disturbing or removing items from designated military wrecks could be prosecuted, with convicted offenders possibly losing their diving equipment and boats and being fined up to £5,000.

Initially, 16 wrecks in waters under UK jurisdiction will be designated Controlled Sites. Included in this category are HMS Royal Oak and HMS Affray.

They were chosen as being representative of all other vessels lost, and in these cases diving will be banned without a special licence.

Five other sites, in international waters, will be designated Protected Places, where diving will only be allowed on a "look but don't touch" basis. These include the battlecruisers HMS Hood, HMS Repulse and the battleship HMS Prince of Wales.

All ships lost in the Falklands have been designated in one of the two categories.
The Ministry of Defence will also begin a rolling programme of assessment of all known British military wrecks, and those that meet certain criteria will be included in the list of Protected Places.

If any wrecks are subject to sustained disturbance or are considered dangerous, they will be added to the list of Controlled Sites.

The criteria for designation are:
a. Whether or not the vessel is the 'Last Resting Place'.
b. Whether or not there is evidence of sustained disturbance and looting (and the strength of such evidence)
c. Whether or not designation is likely to curb or put a stop to such disturbance and looting
d. Whether or not diving on the vessel or site attracts sustained and significant public criticism
e. Whether or not the vessel if of such historical significance to warrant designation.

The announcement follows an extensive public consultation process, and those who contributed include ship associations, veterans groups and diving organisations.

Dr Moonie said: "I hope that those who have disturbed or plundered the last resting place of those whose lives were lost in the service of their country will now realise that this vile and abhorrent practice will not be tolerated by this Government."

He added that the Government will continue the initiative through international and bilateral agreements.

The 16 wrecks to be designated as Controlled Sites are:

HMS A7: One of the earliest Royal Navy submarines, the 180-ton coastal boat A7 failed to surface following a training dive in Whitesand Bay on January 16, 1914. It is believed she dived into mud and became trapped, as divers found her a week later at an bows-up angle of 35 degrees and with 22ft of her stern buried. All 11 on board died.

HMS Affray: An A-class boat, built at the end of World War II, which was lost in mysterious circumstances in the English Channel north of the Channel Islands on April 17, 1951. All of her crew were lost with the boat, along with 20 officers under training, their instructors, and a small group of RM commandos - a total of 75 men.

HMS Antelope: The Type 21 frigate was struck by bombs on May 23, 1982, in San Carlos Water during the Falklands War. The bombs failed to explode on impact, but one blew up while it was being defused,a nd two men died.

HMS Ardent: Sister ship to HMS Antelope, the 2,750-ton frigate sank with the loss of 22 lives after being hit by bombs and rockets on May 21, 1982, off the Falkland Islands.

HMS Bulwark: A 15,000-ton London-class battleship built in 1899 which blew up at anchor in an accident on the Medway near Sheerness on November 26, 1914. Faulty ammunition was blamed for the tragedy, in which 730 died, as she was taking on ammunition at the time.

HMS Coventry: 19 died in the Type 42 destroyer when she was sunk by bombs off Pebble Island in the Falklands on May 25, 1982, just over a fortnight after her sister HMS Sheffield finally sank.

HMS Dasher: Another ship lost to an accident, the 8,200-ton Archer-class escort carrier sank at anchor on March 27, 1943, in the Clyde Estuary after a massive petrol explosion. 379 died in the incident, though 149 survived.

HMS Exmouth: This E-class destroyer leader, displacing 1,475 tons, was sunk by U-22 in the North Sea off the Moray Firth on January 21, 1940, with the loss of 189 sailors.

HMS Formidable: This 15,000-ton Formidable-class battleship, a near-contemporary of HMS Bulwark, was sunk by U-24 off Portland Bill on New Year's Day, 1915, with the loss of 547 men. She took more than two hours to sink from the first attack, and 233 men survived

HMS H5: A modest H-class submarine of 364 tons, the Canadian-built H5 was lost in a collision on March 6, 1918 in the Irish Sea off Anglesey, possibly having been rammed by a freighter which mistook her for a U-boat. 25 died, including a US Navy officer.

HMS Hampshire: The Devonshire-class armoured cruiser was taking Field Marshal Lord Kitchener to Archangel in Russia for a meeting when she struck a mine laid by U-75 off the Orkneys on June 5, 1916 in foul weather. Kitchener was one of the 650 who died in the 10,850-ton ship.

HMS Natal: A Warrior-class armoured cruiser of 13,550 tons which blew up and sank at anchor in the Cromarty Firth on New Year's Eve, 1915. Civilians were believed to be among the 404 who died as a result of the explosion, which has been attributed to faulty ammunition.

HMS Royal Oak: The 25,750-ton Royal Sovereign-class battleship was sunk at anchor in Scapa Flow by Gunther Prien's U-47 on October 14, 1939, killing 833 officers and men as the ship sank in just half an hour.

HMS Sheffield: The Type 42 destroyer, sister ship to HMS Coventry, was hit by an Argentine Exocet missile on May 4, 1982, in the Falklands. The 3,500-ton ship burnt for days, and finally sank on May 9. Twenty men died in the attack.

HMS Vanguard: Another Scapa Flow wreck, the 42,500-ton St Vincent-class battleship was destroyed by an internal explosion on July 9, 1917, leaving only three survivors from the 670 who were in her at the time. The cause of the explosion is still a mystery, though inadequate ventilation to gun turrets may have caused cordite to explode.

German U-boat: The German government has been invited to nominate a U-boat sunk in British waters to be classified as a Controlled Site.

The five wrecks to be designated as Protected Places are:

RFA Sir Galahad: The 3,270-ton landing ship suffered an air attack off Fitzroy during the Falklands War on June 8, 1982, during which 50 men died.

HMS Gloucester: This 9,400-ton Southampton-class cruiser was caught by dive-bombers off Crete on May 22, 1941, sinking with the loss of 736 lives.

HMS Hood: The pride of the Royal Navy was destroyed in action against Bismarck and Prinz Eugen in the Denmark Straits on May 24, 1941. Only three of the battlecruiser's ship's company of 1,421 survived.

HMS Prince of Wales: A 35,000-ton King George V-class battleship which was sunk by Japanese aircraft off the east coast of Malaysia on December 10, 1941.
HMS Repulse: The 26,500-ton battlecruiser was in company with the Prince of Wales when she was sunk off Malaysia on December 10, 1941.