A renowned driver was able to discover the location of the HMS Triumph, a World War II British submarine that disappeared in 1942.
Kostas Thoctarides, a veteran Greek diver, shared in a Facebook post how his team located the wreck of the missing submarine after more than 25 years of searching. It was found at around 670 feet in the Aegean Sea.
“The first time I was informed about the history of the British submarine HMS Triumph was in 1998. It was followed by an extensive survey in the UK. German and Italian archives were then searched,” Thoctarides wrote in the translated Facebook post.
“The history of the submarine Triumph is multidimensional and unique in maritime history, and is inseparable to national resistance and the secret services that acted in the dark days of occupation,” the post continued.
Along with the post are some haunting images of the sunken craft’s exterior after 81 years underwater. The diver told the state news agency ANA that the submarine’s periscopes and hatches were all down.
According to Thoctarides, the Triumph was most likely engaged in combat with an enemy submarine because of the damage to the fore section and the torpedo that was found “halfway out of the submarine,” along with other torpedoes that were nearby.
“This fact leads us to believe that the Triumph fired more than one torpedo,” during its last mission, he continued in his post.
In addition to attacking Axis ships, the sub was also tasked with bringing British commandos to the front lines of fighting and rescuing friendly soldiers.
The Greek giver added that the submarine left Alexandria, Egypt, for its final mission, which was a patrol of the Aegean Sea, on December 26, 1941. The ship was then scheduled to make its way back to Britain for repair and maintenance.
The discovery marks the fifth submarine Thoctarides and his crew have discovered in the Mediterranean region, with the diver previously finding the wreckage of the Jantina last year, an Italian submarine that sank after it was torpedoed by a British vessel in July 1941.
“This is the fifth submarine wreck we’ve found in Greek waters,” Thoctarides wrote.