G.O.SARS

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

Lost British submarine identified off Norway

The wreck of the British submarine HMS 'Thistle' has been discovered and identified in the North Sea, off south-western Norway, after had been missing for 83 years, since being sunk by a German U-boat during World War Two. During an expedition to map seabed geology and biology, the 'G.O. Sars', in spring 2023, had revealed an anomaly at a depth of 160 meters, with ROV-mounted cameras revealing it to be that of a submarine. Only in October, however, following a second ROV dive, has imagery been produced to enable the Royal Navy to confirm its identity. The surveys were part of the MAREANO project, which has been run since 2006 by Norway’s Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Geological Survey of Norway and Norwegian Mapping Authority. The team had already come across four wrecks on the spring expedition when the 'Thistle' mark showed up. Of the five, only the cargo ship 'Azalea', sunk in 1990. had been previously known about. The onboard research indicated that the submarine was likely to be a British vessel, but initially it seemed more likely to have been HMS 'Oxley', lost just before WW2, rather than the 'Thistle (N24)', a T-class submarine launched in October 1938 and missing since April 9, 1940, with the loss of all 53 crew. After the expedition, submarine experts suggested that HMS 'Thistle' was the more likely option of the two, but it took more detailed images captured by the ROV ÆGIR 6000 during the October MAREANO voyage to the Skagerrak to settle the matter with the small caveat that it is the Royal Navy that is responsible for the final identification. Report with photos: https://divernet.com/scuba-news/wrecks/british-ww2-sub-wreck-located-off-norway/