A search for oil in the Baltic Sea has turned up the wreck of the German World War 2 aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, whose whereabouts had been a mystery since it was sunk by the Soviet Navy after the war.
A research ship belonging to Polish oil company Petrobaltic found the 250-meter wreck 55 Km north of the Polish port Wladyslawowo.
We were searching for oil deposits and sonar showed an object shaped like a ship, said Marcin Zachowicz, spokesperson for Polish oil group Lotos, which owns Petrobaltic.
A Polish Navy ship, sent to the site, investigated using remoted-controlled underwater robots and sonar photographic and video equipment to gather digital images and the Navy said it was 99% certain that the wrecked ship was the Graf Zeppelin. However, the experts were still waiting to find the name on one side of the shipwreck before declaring with absolute certainty that it was the Graf Zeppelin.
The Graf Zeppelin was Germany's only aircraft carrier in the war, though it was never seen in action in war. Its final resting place had been a mystery, although fishermen had for years torn their nets in the waters where it lay, the Lotos spokesperson said.
It's said the Graf Zeppelin was captured by the Soviet Navy after the Germans scuttled it in Szczecin (Stettin) in April 1945, just before the Soviet Army captured the city. It was then used, by the Soviets, for target practice and sunk as part of a training exercise in 1947.
Poland's Navy said it was unlikely the wreck would be recovered from depths of more than 80m. According to tradition, shipwrecks are left in the sea, said Navy spokesperson Bartosz Zajda to the Associated Press news agency. Besides, it would be technically hard to pull it out.
August 4, 2006
