Posts Tagged ‘battleship’
Battleship sunk in 1917 found by underwater survey crew
Daylife/AP Photo
A French battleship sunk in 1917 by a German submarine has been discovered in remarkable condition on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea. The Danton, with many of its gun turrets still intact, is sitting upright in over 1,000m of water.
It was found by the Fugro geosciences company during a survey for a gas pipeline between Algeria and Italy.
The Danton, which sank with 296 sailors still onboard, lies 35km southwest of the island of Sardinia. Naval historians record that the Danton’s Captain Delage stood on the bridge with his officers and made no attempt to leave the ship as it went down.
The final resting place is a few kilometres from where people have traditionally thought the ship met its end.
“The French Admiralty did argue with us for a while that it should have been several nautical miles away, but we reminded them that modern GPS methods are more accurate than the sextants they used in those days,” said Project Manager Rob Hawkins.
The pipeline is being built by the Galsi consortium and will be the deepest underwater conduit for gas ever constructed when it becomes operational in 2012.
Fascinating stuff. Can you imagine being onboard the submersible plotting a pipeline when you suddenly come upon the wreck of a battleship – from almost a century ago?
