For several decades, there have been numerous theories circulating as to what happened to a World War II submarine and now we finally have the truth. Divers have found and identified the remains of a British submarine called the HMS Urge. This confirms that the sub was sunk because of a German mine located about 6 miles from Malta back in 1942. It also debunks previous theories about what may have happened to the sub.
The sub was initially in Malta in 1942 which was an important British naval port. The British Admiralty told them to leave Malta for Egypt because of the intense attacks from the German and Italian air forces. The sub didn’t reach Egypt and 32 crew members along with 11 other naval personnel and one war correspondent were listed as missing at sea.
When a Belgian diver named Jean-Pierre Misson reported that he found the wreckage in 2015 off the coast of Libya, he claimed that it had been sunk by Italian warplanes during a secret mission. While it was never proven that the wreckage was the HMS Urge, Misson stuck to his story which had many people wondering whether the submarine purposely went off course and that started a cover-up conspiracy.
HMS Urge
But now those theories have been put to rest as the submarine’s embossed name was found on the conning tower as well as a detailed 3D scan of its hull prove that the wreckage off the coast of Malta is indeed the HMS Urge.
The divers spent a little more than 20 minutes underwater about 360 feet down (110 meters) taking a video of the wreckage and high-resolution pictures. Based on their investigation of the wreckage, they revealed that the sub had in fact hit a naval mine that was put there by a German warship. They found a hole that was punctured in the pressure hull close to the bow that would have been caused by the blast. They predicted that the bow would have quickly filled up with water before breaking off of the sub when it sank.
In an interview with Live Science, Timmy Gambin, who is a maritime archaeologist at the University of Malta, stated, “It is now 100 percent confirmed.” “We got some good images of the name that will hopefully do away with the absurd claim that she was lost off North Africa.”
(An old wartime photo.)
This discovery is incredibly important, especially for the families of those who were on board the sub. “The daughter of the commander is still alive. … The love letters written by her mother are in the submarine,” Gambin said, adding, “So for me, the science and the safety of the dives are paramount, but the most important thing is closure for the families.”
Pictures of the HMS Urge can be seen here.
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