Long lost submarine found off the coast of Denmark

Just over a century after vanishing in early 2018, the long lost British WWI submarine ‘HMS G8’ has been found off the coast of Denmark

The sub has been found in Skagerrak Strait at a depth of about 100 metres just north of Hirsthals and it seems to have sunk following and accident or technical problems, according to Gert Normann Andersen, the head of Sea War Museum Jutland.

“The hull is very rusty and there are several corrosion holes in the outer hull and pressure hull. There doesn’t seem to be any damage from mines or other explosives,” said Andersen.

“The wreck is covered with trawl and netting so it is difficult to see all the details, but I’m not in doubt that this is ‘G8’.”

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Never made it home
A scanning by 3D multi-beam scanner showed that the wreck has the same length and width as G8 and a check using a submersible robot confirmed the identification.

The sub’s depth rudders are pointing towards the surface, suggesting that the men aboard were trying to get to the surface – another indication that it sank due to a technical error.

HMS G8 was attached to the 10th flotilla during WWI and when it wasn’t stationed at the mouth of the river Tees in Yorkshire, it was patrolling the North Sea on the hunt for German subs.

On 27 December 1917 the sub left home base with a crew of 28 sailors with an order to patrol Kattegat. When it failed to return as charged on 6 January 1918, it was officially reported missing on January 14.

The Sea War Museum Jutland has made a series of spectacular finds in recent years – a total of 31 submarines from WWI and WWII have been found by Andersen and his group.

In 2016, the museum found the wreckage of the British cruiser HMS Warrior, which sank during WWI, and the wreck of SM UC-30, a mine-laying sub that was part of the German Imperial Navy in WWI.