The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (c. 35) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that provides protection for the wreckage of military aircraft and designated military vessels. The act provides for two types of protection: protected places and controlled sites. Military aircraft are automatically protected, but vessels have to be specifically designated. The primary reason for designation is to protect as a 'war grave' the last resting place of British servicemen (or other nationals); however, the act does not require the loss of the vessel to have occurred during war. There have been eight statutory instruments designating wrecks under the act, in 2002 (amended 2003), 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2017, 2019, and 2026) Sixteen wrecks are designated as controlled sites, on which diving is banned. These vessels (including one German submarine), all lost on military service, provide a small representative sample of all such vessels. All other vessels that meet the criteria of the act are subject to a rolling programme of assessment and those that meet the criteria will be designated as protected places. The order that is currently in force, since March 2026, designates 113 wrecks as protected places. This means that diving is allowed, but divers must follow the rule of look, don't touch.
Protection under the act The act provides for two types of protection: protected places and controlled sites. The primary reason for designation is to protect the last resting place of British servicemen (or other nationals). While this is often referred to as protection as a war grave, the protected wrecks are not graves in the sense of falling under the control of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, nor are they required to have been lost during wartime. The wreckage of all military aircraft (British or other nations') that crashed in the United Kingdom, in United Kingdom territorial waters or in United Kingdom-controlled waters is automatically protected irrespective of whether there was loss of life or whether the wrecking occurred during peacetime or in a combat. The wreckage of United Kingdom military aircraft is also protected under the act elsewhere in the world.
Protected places Wrecks are designated by name and can be designated as protected places even if the location of the site is not known. Thus, the wreckage of a British military aircraft is automatically a protected place even if the physical remains have not been previously discovered or identified. Shipwrecks need to be specifically designated, and designation as a protected place applies only to vessels that sank after 4 August 1914 (the date of the United Kingdom's entry into the First World War). The act makes it an offence to interfere with a protected place, to disturb the site or to remove anything from the site. Divers may visit the site, but the rule is look, don't touch and don't penetrate. The law concerning protected places applies anywhere in the world, but, outside of the UK, the sanctions can only be enforced, in practice, against British citizens, British-flagged ships or vessels landing in the UK, unless backed by local legislation. The first and only licence granted in respect of a vessel designated a protected place was granted to Mike Williams of the Nautical Archaeology Society for a project to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the loss of the M2 submarine, including the placing of a white ensign underwater.
Controlled sites Controlled sites must be specifically designated by location, where the site contains the remains of an aircraft or a vessel that crashed, sank or was stranded within the last two hundred years. The act makes it illegal to conduct any operations (including any diving or excavation) within the controlled site that might disturb the remains unless licensed to do so by the Ministry of Defence. Licences have been granted for excavation of aircraft, provided that it is not thought that there are human remains present or unexploded ordnance. In the case of sunken vessels, any activities necessary, such as the recovery of extant human remains and the sealing of openings into wrecks, is generally carried out by Ministry of Defence diving teams. Controlled sites at sea are marked on admiralty charts, and their physical location is marked by means of a buoy (sea mark).
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