Reuters (June 9) - Swedish and Finnish divers have located the wreck of a Soviet submarine sunk during World War Two in the Baltic Sea, the team said on Tuesday.
The wreck of the submarine, the S-2, which sank in 1940 with a crew of 46 and four passengers, was found in waters around Aland, a chain of islands in the strait separating Finland and Sweden.
Watery GraveStefan Hogeborn, Scanpix / Reuters3 photos A diver examines the deck gun of a Soviet submarine that was sunk in the Baltic Sea during World War II. The S-2, which sank in 1940 with a crew of 46 and four passengers, was found in waters around Aland, a chain of islands in the strait separating Finland and Sweden
"After having searched a large water area, a diving team from Sweden and Aland found the wreck in the Aland Sea near the border between Sweden and Finland," the divers said in a statement.
"The wreck had split in three. The rear and middle parts are there, but the front part is missing," Marten Zetterstrom, one of the divers, told Reuters.
Swedish and Finnish war-time records say the Soviet submarine struck a mine as it cruised through the archipelago in January 1940, the team of divers from Sweden and Aland said. Russian authorities had been notified of the find.
The divers, who had mounted the search at their own expense, had been looking for the submarine for more than a decade when they finally found it.
"My feelings were mixed. There it was, this war machine that was built to take ships down. I was happy, sad, depressed and elated all at once," Zetterstrom said.
At the time the submarine disappeared, the Soviet Union was at war with Finland while Sweden had declared itself neutral in the conflict during which many ships of different nations were sunk in the Baltic Sea.
Copyright 2009, Reuters
2009-06-09 22:39:10
