British archaeologists have discovered more than 40 German uracil - gravy boat sunk during the first World War . locate just off England ’s southern and easterly coast , the subs have been decompose for well-nigh a hundred years . It ’s now a race against time to canvas the wrecks before they vanish forever .
The U - gravy holder were discovered by submersed archeologist Mark Dunkley along the southerly and eastern coast of the UK . It ’s the largest conglomeration of sunken hoagy ever find , consisting of 41 German uranium - sauceboat and three English submarines — all from World War I.
The grinder , all of them near the coast , rest at depths of about 15 meters ( 50 feet ) . And because many of the hero drop with crew on board , future expeditions will likely find the remains of sailors inside the crash ( or “ disaster sample ” in the idiom of the field ) .
Interestingly , some of the submarine have been linked to several uranium - gravy holder still list with the German Imperial Navy as neglect , including UB 17 , a underground crew by 21 men under the command of naval Lieutenant Albert Branscheid , and the 27 - extremity crew of UC 21 , a minelayer commanded by naval Lieutenant Werner von Zerboni di Sposetti .
Der Spiegelreports :
The British could see it as a peculiar irony of history that these standard are now benefiting the heritage of their former enemy . Since the Germans attacked civilian targets in World War I , British propaganda mockingly come to to the submarine as “ baby killers . ”
“ Many have forgotten how successful the German U - boat fleet was for a prison term , ” say Dunkley — an assessment that is by no means intend to glorify the German attacks . In fact , one of the goal of the most recent English Heritage project is to remind people that , although they might be more conversant with submarine warfare from World War II , the ships also caused considerable ravaging in the previous world warfare .
Indeed , it had practically go away from popular memory that the Germans do great losses to their master foe , Great Britain , in World War I through targeted submarine sandwich strikes against the royal merchant navy .
At the start of WWI , there were only 28 U - gravy holder under the bid of Kaiser Wilhelm II , a tiny number compared to the confederative fleet . But by the terminal of the war , the Germans produced some 380 U - boats — half of which were lose at sea .
The find could also shed some penetration into the war itself . It ’s interesting to note that two or three German uranium - boats were often notice lying in close proximity to one another — possible evidence of a certain German combat scheme . By other 1917 , the Germans begin to target British commercial-grade ship on a large scale . In turn , the Royal Navy reacted by providing freighters with combat ship escorts , along with airships and aircraft to blob foe subs from above .
“ We owe it to these the great unwashed to tell their story , ” say Dunkley , who work for English Heritage , a public torso that is part of the Department for Culture , Media and Sport . Dunkley and his squad will explore the wrecks in the coming month . In some vitrine , they ’ll use robotic vehicles to tailor open up the hatching of the hoagie to get indoors .
[ Der Spiegel ]
HistoryMarine archaeologyworld warfare i
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