A German warship sunk during World War Two and thought to have been lost forever has been discovered on the seabed off the coast of Norway. The ship was sunk after it was hit by a torpedo more than 80 years ago.
Norwegian state-owned grid operator Statnett made the discovery when it was surveying nearby waters. The long-lost vessel, which was identified as the "Karlsruhe" - a Königsberg class cruiser. It was discovered at a depth of more than 1,600 feet, or 488 meters.
The 571-foot vessel was part of a fleet on a mission to attack the southern Norway city of Kristiansand in 1940. During Germany's invasion of Norway, the fleet was attacked by both Norwegian and British forces. Historians said the specific battleship was hit by a torpedo from a British submarine. As a result of severe damage, the crew decided to scuttle the ship to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
Frode Kvalø, an archaeologist and researcher at the Norway Maritime Museum said in a statement the battle was well documented. However, the exact location of where the "Karlsruhe" had sunk had remained unknown until now. During the clash, the "Karlsruhe" was the only German ship reported lost.
Statnett first got a clue of where the ship was located after it detected signs of wreckage more than three years ago while it was doing inspection work on some of its undersea power cables. Ole Petter Hobberstad, a senior project engineer at Statnett, decided to lead an investigation to find the wreckage.
Equipped with advanced sonar equipment, multibeam echo sounders and Remotely Operated Vehicles, Hobberstad and his team scoured the sea floor to find the mysterious vessel aboard their offshore ship called the "Olympic Taurus." Hobberstad said in a statement all were very excited and surprised when images of the ship's cannons were shown on the screen. Further exploration led to the eventual identification of the warship, which showed heavy damage and signs of decay.
