NEW divers are being given the chance to take part in a unique underwater archaeology project in Purbeck.

The Isle of Purbeck Sub Aqua Club, which launched its Valentine 75 project earlier this year, will be holding a taster evening for people eager to learn how to dive.

For those who successfully gain their dive qualifications, a chance to be part of the innovative two-year Valentine adventure will be up for grabs.

The underwater initiative has been launched to map the wreckage of seven top secret Second World War amphibious Valentine tanks.

In the months leading up to D-Day, the waters of the Dorset coast became vital testing grounds for the amphibious assault that was to come.

On April 18, 1944, while wartime leaders Winston Churchill and General Dwight D. Eisenhower looked on, Operation Smash unfolded off the Studland coast.

During this operation seven of the Valentines, which had been fitted with propellers and canvas skirts to make them amphibious, sank with the loss of seven lives.

In the years after the war the sunken tanks became a magnet for curious divers. In the 1980s five of them were blown up by the Royal Navy, who considered them a hazard to shipping.

Isle of Purbeck Sub Aqua Club training officer Nick Reed said: "The 'try dive' is a taster session for people who would like to undertake the British Sub Aqua Club's Ocean Diver Course.

"What is particularly exciting about the course this year is that the divers will be able to take part in our Valentine 75 project.

"The project will spend the next two years recording and surveying the seven Valentine tanks wrecks in Poole Bay. The tanks were, at the time, a top secret design and were taking part in Exercise Smash, a major training exercise in preparation for D-Day.

"The location and depth of the tanks make them ideal for newly qualified divers to explore and they will be one of the first dives they will make from a boat. It will be diving with a purpose."

In 2019 the club will mark the 75th anniversary of Operation Smash.

The 'try dive' evening takes place at Purbeck Sports Centre on March 30, between 8.15-10.15pm.

It will consist of a short presentation before a chance to try out the diving equipment in the centre's swimming pool.

Contact club chairman Chris Dunkerley via valentine75@ipsacdivers.co.uk or on 01929 426 928 to book a place.