Asgard II

Former sunken Irish national sail training vessel

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The vessel was owned by the Irish state and operated by Coiste an Asgard (a founding member of Sail Training International).

Asgard II sank in the Bay of Biscay on 11 September 2008, southwest of Belle Île en Mer, at Assistance was given by and and two lifeboats from Belle Île, Morbihan, France. The vessel was in a relatively good condition on the sea bed with one of her hull planks damaged; it is unclear whether this damage was caused by impact with the sea bed, or was the cause of the sinking, possibly from a collision with a semi–submerged container. An early salvage was desirable before damage from winter storms and fishing nets. On 23 February 2009, the then Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea, announced that the Asgard II would not be raised. Jimmy Deenihan, spokesperson for the opposition Fine Gael party expressed disappointment:

"It is over five months since the Asgard II sank in the Bay of Biscay. In that time any chance that the vessel would be recovered were seriously undermined by the Ministers' own hesitancy on the matter. Not one but two salvage feasibility surveys were commissioned in that period and the available weather windows were wasted when a salvage operation was possible." In 2010, a private team of Irish divers recovered a number of artifacts from the wreck, such as the ship's bell and steering wheel.

The loss of Asgard was investigated by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board and its final report was released on 27 September 2010. The most likely cause of the accident, the investigation found, was that the ship collided with a submerged object. Although the maintenance and operation of Asgard II were found to be in excess of that required by the then current regulations, a recommendation was made that the practice of classing sail training vessels as cargo ships rather than passenger ships should be reviewed.