WWII Ships Found Deep in 'Graveyard of the Atlantic'

WWII Ships Found Deep in 'Graveyard of the Atlantic'

(AFP) Two sunken ships from World War II — a German U-boat and an American merchant vessel — have been found deep in the ocean off the coast of North Carolina, officials said Tuesday.

The ships clashed in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1942 and were lost for more than seven decades in an area known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

Researchers led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries discovered the vessels about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from shore.

The discovery of the German U-boat 576 and the freighter Bluefields offers “a rare window into a historic military battle and the underwater battlefield landscape of WWII,” NOAA said.

The ships were found 240 yards apart.

They battled on July 15, 1942 when a convoy of merchant ships being escorted from Norfolk, Virginia to Florida was attacked by the German submarine.

Both ships were lost within minutes and sank to the seabed, but only one, the German boat, suffered casualties, 45 in all.

The wreck site is considered a war grave for the German crew and is protected under international law.

The shipwreck was found in August by archaeologists aboard an NOAA research vessel.

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