Current:Home > BackDiver finds long-lost World War II submarine after 25 years of searching-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Diver finds long-lost World War II submarine after 25 years of searching
View Date:2024-12-24 11:09:20
A veteran Greek diver specializing in locating sunken ships announced Wednesday that he has found a British submarine that disappeared during a World War II mission in 1942.
Kostas Thoctarides told state news agency ANA his team had located the wreck of HMS Triumph at a depth of 670 feet at an undisclosed location in the Aegean Sea.
The search for the submarine began in 1998 and was "the hardest mission I have ever undertaken in my life," Thoctarides said in a Facebook post. He also posted video and images of the shipwreck, showing the wooden steering wheel, compass and cannon.
"The plug of the right torpedo, located at the tower height, has opened and the MK VIII torpedo is halfway out of the submarine!" Thoctarides wrote.
Research in archives in the UK, Germany, Italy and Greece helped to unlock the submarine's final resting place, he added.
The 84-meter T-class submarine was launched in 1938 and carried out twenty missions, including attacks against Axis ships, landing British commandos and rescuing Allied soldiers.
Thoctarides -- who in 1997 located the hulk of HMS Perseus, a British submarine that sank in 1941 -- said the Triumph was last sighted by an Italian pilot near Cape Sounion near Athens.
The last attack by the vessel is believed to have been against an Axis cement freighter.
It was officially declared missing with 64 people on board in January 1942.
Thoctarides told ANA that the submarine's periscopes and hatches were down, indicating that it was in a deep dive during its final moments.
It appears to have sunk due to a powerful explosion in the fore section but the cause of the blast is still unclear, he said.
Thoctarides said recently his team discovered several torpedoes of the same type used by the submarine not too far from the shipwreck.
"This fact leads us to believe that the Triumph fired more than one torpedo" during its final mission, he wrote.
Thoctarides said the HMS Triumph marked the fifth submarine he has found off the coast of Greece. Last year, he announced that his team had found the wreckage of the Jantina, an Italian submarine that sank on July 5, 1941, with 48 crewmembers aboard after being hit by torpedoes fired by the British sub HMS Torbay in the Aegean Sea.
The discovery of Triumph comes less than two months after a team of explorers announced it found a sunken Japanese ship that was torpedoed off the coast of the Philippines in 1942, resulting in Australia's largest maritime wartime loss with a total of 1,080 lives.
- In:
- Shipwreck
- World War II
- Greece
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas says he was detained in airport over being ‘disoriented’
- Brittney Griner on Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich being released: 'It's a great day'
- Harvard appoints Alan Garber as president through 2026-27 academic year
- Matt Damon's 4 daughters make rare appearance at 'The Investigators' premiere
- Could trad wives, influencers have sparked the red wave among female voters?
- Harris has secured enough Democratic delegate votes to be the party’s nominee, committee chair says
- Job report: Employers added just 114,000 jobs in July as unemployment jumped to 4.3%
- 2024 Paris Olympics golf format, explained: Is there a cut, scoring, how to watch
- Mississippi man charged with shooting 5 people after not being allowed into party
- Christina Hall Slams Estranged Husband Josh Hall’s Message About “Hope”
Ranking
- Advocates Expect Maryland to Drive Climate Action When Trump Returns to Washington
- USA Basketball's Steve Kerr, assistants enjoying master’s class in coaching
- Lionel Messi's ankle injury improves. Will he play Inter Miami's next Leagues Cup game?
- Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick's Son James Wilkie Shares Rare Photo of Family in Paris
- Gun groups sue to overturn Maine’s new three-day waiting period to buy firearms
- Saturn throws comet out of solar system at 6,700 mph: What astronomers think happened
- Authorities are investigating after a man died in police custody on Long Island
- Periodic flooding hurts Mississippi. But could mitigation there hurt downstream in Louisiana?
Recommendation
-
Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani wins reelection to Arizona US House seat
-
Rent paid, but Team USA's Veronica Fraley falls short in discus qualifying at Paris Games
-
Drexel University agrees to bolster handling of bias complaints after probe of antisemitic incidents
-
AP Decision Notes: What to expect in the Kansas state primaries
-
Love Is Blind’s Chelsea Blackwell Reacts to Megan Fox’s Baby News
-
Attorneys for man charged with killing Georgia nursing student ask judge to move trial
-
Thousands were arrested at college protests. For students, the fallout was only beginning
-
An assassin, a Putin foe’s death, secret talks: How a sweeping US-Russia prisoner swap came together