A British World War II submarine that disappeared with 64 crew members on board during a secret mission in 1943 has been found off the coast of Greece.
The wreck of HMS Trooper has been discovered 800 feet underwater by a private deep-sea exploration company, solving the 81-year mystery of its whereabouts.
The 85-meter-long submarine is divided into three separate parts, the owner of Planet Blue, the company that found the ship, told Greek media.
Costas Thoktaridis said the separation of the bow, midsection and stern confirms that HMS Trooper sank very violently following a mine explosion.
It is hoped that the discovery of the wreck will finally bring some closure to the families of the submarine’s crew, including British submariners and Australian volunteer Lt. John Stuart Ryder, 22.
HMS Trooper was discovered by a Greek deep sea search team
Creepy photos show fish circling the barnacle-covered wreck of the submarine
Submarines aboard HMS Trooper in a photo dated 4 February 1943
Archive image shows British Royal Navy submarine HMS Trooper at sea, date not stated
Richard Wraith CBE, Captain in the Royal Navy and son of the Captain of HMS Trooper, said of the news: ‘I have known for many years the painstaking efforts of the search team to locate the wreck of the submarine and now I am very pleased and excited that their efforts were rewarded.
“I hope that the victims’ family members, along with my father, will be able to use the Trooper’s final status as a reference point to lay the memories of their loved ones to rest.”
George Malcolmson, former director of the British Royal Navy’s Royal Submarine Museum, told Greek news agency ANA-MPA that he was “very moved” when he heard that Thoktaridis and his team had solved the decades-long mystery.
HMS Trooper was launched in October 1943 on a patrol mission between the islet of Donoussa and Ikaria after British intelligence received information that the Nazis might attempt another landing on Leros.
The submarine was ordered to return to Beirut port on October 17, but failed to surface and was reported missing.
It was believed to have been struck by a German mine in the Aegean Sea, most likely near Leros.
It was eventually located between Ikaria and Kos, where it is believed to have been destroyed by a mine
Efforts to locate the missing submarine began in 2000, but more than fourteen searches around the Dodecanese were unsuccessful.
Searches for the remains were concentrated in the well-known German minefields of Leros, Kalymnos and Kos.
It was ultimately located between Ikaria and Kos, where it was probably destroyed by a mine laid a few days earlier by the German minesweeper ‘Drache’.
Researchers who filmed the wreck said they did not disturb the submarine because it serves as the final resting place of the 64 service members who died that day.