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The wreck of a Royal Navy hero that mysteriously disappeared with 44 people on circuit board during World War II has been discovered off the Mediterranean island of Malta .
The discovery of HMS Urge suggests it drop in 1942 after hitting an explosive marine mine localise by an foe German warship .
The wreck of HMS Urge was found at a depth of 430 feet (130 meters) off the coast of the Mediterranean island of Malta.
The crash was found beneath 430 foot ( 130 meters ) of water by researchers from the University of Malta , who have been working on an underwater survey of the island ’s territorial waters since the late 1990s .
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Maritime archeologist Timmy Gambin , who led the expedition , said that in 2017 Francis Dickinson , the grandson of the commander of the Urge , require the university to help find his grandfather ’s escape submarine .
Maritime archaeologists say the submarine was badly damaged at the bow by the explosion, but otherwise it is in good condition.
After carrying out historic research on the locations of minefield laid by the German and Italian US Navy — revealed after the war by naval records — the team act their sketch oeuvre to breed those domain in 2019 , he said .
" In a way , it is a good continuation of our survey , but on the other hand it was a bit more specific to the Urge , " Gambin secern Live Science .
Gambin and his colleagues deploy an sovereign underwater fomite ( AUV ) to follow the region , spotting the crash of the hero over the summertime ; they then used a remote - manoeuvre underwater vehicle ( ROV ) fit out with a gamey - definition video camera to commemorate details that could identify the hoagie , he enjoin .
HMS Urge was considered one of the most effective submarines in Royal Navy and its disappearance has been a mystery for 77 years.
They sent the video to Britain ’s Ministry of Defence for confirmation ; theRoyal Navy of late confirmedthat it was the Urge .
Missing submarine
The Urge was a small U - category submarine , just 191 foot ( 58 m ) long . The U - class subs were earlier intended for training , but they were used in armed combat during World War II and try out extremely capable .
The Urge was especially effective . Its captain , Lt . Cmdr . Edward Tomkinson , and his crew received medal for a bowed stringed instrument of success , including slide down a German tanker supporting U - boats in the Atlantic Ocean , crippling the Italian battlewagon Vittorio Veneto and sinking the Italian squad car Bande Nere , consort to the Royal Navy .
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The sub was also part of the submarine flotilla that chivy ships carrying supply to German Gen. Erwin Rommel ’s Afrika Korps in North Africa , and it on the QT landed British commandos and agents on opposition seacoast . But the Urge leave Malta on April 27 , 1942 , after the flotilla was posted to Egypt to get away the intense bombardment of Malta — then a key British naval port — by the German and Italian atmosphere violence .
The submarine was throttle for the interface of Alexandria in Egypt — but it never make it , and was officially reported missing at ocean two days later , with 32 work party , 11 other naval force , and a warfare correspondent on board .
The submarine sandwich ’s captain , Tomkinson , was survived by a baby daughter , Bridget . When she married she became Bridget Dickinson , the mother of Francis Dickinson , who started the search movement .
Although the Admiralty concluded the Urge had play into an foeman minefield soon after depart Malta , in 2015 a Belgian historianclaimed to have discover its wreckoff the seacoast of Libya , where it was purportedly sunk by Italian warplane .
That propose that the Urge was far off its designated course when it sank , and that its commander may have disobey his orders .
But the confirmed breakthrough of the wrecked submarine about 2 miles ( 3 klick ) from the coast of Malta , in a channel result from the island , has now put that theory to rest , Gambin assure Television Malta .
Mine damage
Catastrophic damage evident from the crash of the Urge paint a picture it bury straight off to the seafloor after being struck by a mine laid by a German tocopherol - boat — a fast , small vas used by the German Navy during World War II .
Gambin read that a length of the bow section at least 22 foot ( 7 m ) long was come away from the remainder of the watercraft . " The damage to the bow shows a very violent explosion … indicate that the ship would have sink very fast , giving no prospect to anybody to live from this tragedy . "
The Urge now lie upright on the seafloor with its bowing partially buried in the sea floor , but otherwise it is in good consideration , he said .
Because people lost their life in its sinking , the wreck is considered a war tomb , and is protected under Maltese and external law , he said .
The detailed survey of the seafloor around Malta has now cover about 460 square mil ( 1,200 straightforward km ) — a scrap less than half of the island ’s territorial waters , Gambin say .
Most of the study had been conduct since 2014 with an AUV that could plunge to 1,640 foot ( 500 thou ) and stay submersed for up to 5 hours . The AUVhas find several potential wreck . " We are mapping whatever there is on the seabed , he say . " We have find out everything from the 2,700 - yr - old shipwreck , to planes crashed in the sea during the Cold War . "
The answer of the submerged view are now part of theSintegram project , an effort funded by the European Union to link geospatial datum from Malta above and below the water , to enable succeeding planner to take advantage of it .
Originally published onLive Science .
