A missing German U-boat sunk during World War Two has been found at the bottom of the English Channel, 82 years after it went down. The U-672 was located about 20 miles off the coast of Salcombe, Devon, after being damaged by depth charges dropped by HMS Balfour in 1944.
The wreck was identified by divers who matched its snorkel system and radar-decoy equipment to the missing submarine, which was known for having a pig painted on its tower.
Diver's Discovery
Dominic Robinson, a diver with Plymouth's Gasperados team who discovered the wreck, said: 'I started seeing the individual features.'
'I saw the snorkel, I saw the conning tower, all those kind of things – I knew that we were going to get the video needed to identify it, so I was really pleased about that.'
Last Moments of the U-672
The captain of the leaking submarine waited until the last moment before deciding to float to the surface and give his crew a last chance of surviving. He then intentionally sank the vessel carrying the 52-strong German crew.
The crew, who all survived, were left to bob around in lifeboats before they were captured and then returned to Germany after the war.
Family's Reaction and Clerical Error
The diver said he had spoken to the family of the U-boat's captain who said he lived a 'long and happy life'. He added: 'They just said how proud he would have been and how pleased he would have been to know that it had been found at last.'
The co-ordinates it was sunk on were input incorrectly, so nobody could find it until this month. Dr Axel Niestle, a historian who specialises in U-boats, said 'due to a clerical error' the position of the U-boat ended up being recorded 'some 46 miles' away.
