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A stock photo of a German U-boat Google Images

WWI German submarine wreck found off Belgium

The bodies of 22 sailors are understood to still be inside the wreckage.

DIVERS HAVE FOUND a well-preserved wreck of a German submarine sunk during World War I in the North Sea which may have the bodies of its crew still on board, Belgian officials said yesterday.

A diver who has explored the wreck, lying in 30 metres of water off the port of Ostend, said the good condition of the submarine suggested the remains of its 23 crew could still be inside.

It is the 11th German submarine from the 1914-18 war to be found in Belgian waters and the best-preserved example to date, Thomas Termote, a diver and expert in marine archaeology who found the wreck this summer, told AFP.

“We thought that all the big wrecks had already been discovered so this was a total surprise,” Termote told AFP.

Its exact location is being kept secret to deter treasure hunters.

He said the wreck, a UB-II type torpedo armed boat, was 27 metres long with the rear end partly detached.

“The submarine is very intact, everything is still closed – that’s what he (Termote) saw during his first visit this summer,” Jan Mees, head of the Flanders Marine Institute told AFP.

The submarine would have had 22 crew and a commander on board, West Flanders provincial governor Carl Decaluwe told De Standaard newspaper.

“All the hatches are still closed. This suggests the wreck has not been discovered before and moreover the 23 crew members are still inside,” Decaluwe said.

The German embassy in Belgium had been informed, Belga news agency reported.

‘Sea grave’

During WWI, the German navy used the Belgian port of Zeebrugge as a base for its submarines, known as U-boats, to attack shipping in the North Sea.

To combat the U-boat threat, the British tried to block Zeebrugge port in April 1918 by scuttling old ships in the entry channel.

The first indications of the wreck came in 2015 when a sonar ship found signs of a large wreck off Ostend in 2015.

Termote, who lives in the town, carried out further investigations on his own initiative.

A further dive is planned soon to clean some of the outside and check its identification number, Mees said.

German authorities could then check it against their record and contact the families of the deceased.

“If the Germans want to get the bodies back it’s possible, but highly unlikely,” Mees added.

Termote said the wreck would be “nearly impossible” to refloat and would therefore be “considered a sea grave for the sailors”.

Germany lost around 1,200 men in 70 U-boats off the Belgian coast during four years – out of a total of 93 stationed in Flanders.

Its base was in the medieval city of Bruges, 12 kilometres from the coast but linked to the sea at Ostend and Zeebrugge by canals.

Termote, 42, was introduced to diving by his father, an Ostend hotelier. The pair have since carried out 5,000 dives in the North Sea.

© – AFP 2017

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    Mute stephen
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:36 PM

    Stock photo of a VII from a completely different war..

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    Mute Paul Devlin
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:42 PM

    @stephen: a submarine just chillin on the beach, working on its tan

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    Mute Paddy Hayden
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:42 PM

    @stephen: Surprised they didn’t reuse the one of the home made Danish sub .

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    Mute stephen
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    Sep 21st 2017, 12:13 AM

    @Paul Devlin: gotta look good for the buoys of summer

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    Mute Darren Tully
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    Sep 21st 2017, 12:32 PM

    @stephen: Well if that particular boat is late war model it would have looked very similar to the type VII; it was the result of interwar development on those late WW1 design

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    Mute David Farrell
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:35 PM

    Its long and hard and full of seaman

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    Mute Wes O'Toole
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    Sep 21st 2017, 7:53 AM

    @Gearoid O’Helidhe: OH SHUT UP…! MR MATURE…!

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    Mute Wes O'Toole
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    Sep 21st 2017, 7:55 AM

    @David Farrell: LOL..

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    Mute David Farrell
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    Sep 21st 2017, 10:14 AM

    @Wes O’Toole: how dare we have a sense of humour

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    Mute Philip Mckenna
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    Sep 20th 2017, 11:10 PM

    Apparently one of the sailors had a Nokia 3310 on him still had 2 bars left on it!

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    Mute Hughie Lynch
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:56 PM

    stock photo of submarine with a door in the side – which was a design flaw that later submarine designs corrected

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    Mute Aidan Martin
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    Sep 20th 2017, 11:33 PM

    Thought they might want bodies back for proper burial.unusual

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    Mute Paul Murphy
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    Sep 21st 2017, 9:18 AM

    War grave. Leave it alone and it’s crew rest in peace

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    Mute rowan hill
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:33 PM

    Bomb it again

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    Mute Kerry Blake
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:37 PM

    @rowan hill: Why? You do know those who were on that u boat are dead?

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    Mute TheHeathen
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:40 PM

    @rowan hill: Good man, that’ll learn them!!

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    Mute David Farrell
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:42 PM

    @TheHeathen: teach!!

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    Mute TheHeathen
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:45 PM

    @David Farrell: Oh no not another one

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    Mute David Farrell
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:47 PM

    @TheHeathen: relax im just learning you

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    Mute TheHeathen
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    Sep 20th 2017, 10:59 PM

    @David Farrell: Facetiousness is lost on the dim.

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    Mute Shane Terry
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    Sep 21st 2017, 12:10 PM

    Someone should keep a running total of the point scoring on the journal and prizes should be handed out at Christmas. The comments section has been hijacked by the PC brigade.

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    Mute ian kennedy
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    Sep 21st 2017, 7:18 AM

    wow

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    Mute Marlon Brando
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:06 AM

    I wonder will it be all stinky cuz those sailors have been in there so long?

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    Mute Etherman
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:32 AM

    @Marlon Brando: a small amount of organic matter, knocking around in an otherwise empty vessel, will of course rot.

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    Mute Niamh O Hanlon
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    Sep 21st 2017, 9:31 AM

    @Etherman: a bit like the inside of marlons head

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    Mute Patrick J. O'Rourke
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    Sep 21st 2017, 12:31 PM

    @Etherman: Maybe if it’s still airlocked it might have produced the perfect environment for mummification?

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    Mute Etherman
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    Sep 21st 2017, 1:16 PM

    @Niamh O Hanlon: that was my inference.

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