Turks Find Hitler's 'Lost Fleet'

Three German U-boats located in Black Sea
By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 4, 2008 2:25 PM CST
Turks Find Hitler's 'Lost Fleet'
U-boats are docked at Wilhemshaven in this archival photograph.   (Public Domain)

Three World War II U-boats, known as "Hitler's lost fleet," have been discovered off the Turkish coast, the Telegraph reports. A Turkish team combined archival research with sailor interviews and sonar technology to find the wreckage, part of the six-boat fleet that dogged Russian ships in the Black Sea under notorious commander "Silent Otto" Kretschmer.

The submarines were carried over land from Germany in 1942 to sink Russian ships in the Black Sea. The surviving three were scuttled in 1944 after Romania turned against the Nazis, leaving the boats stranded. The intact ships, sealed since 1944, "are unique survivors of the war," said one archaeologist. (More history stories.)

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