WWII Submarine Found Filled with 71 Bodies off Sardinian Coast

London: After 73 years, the long lost World War II submarine HMS P-311 was found on Saturday with 71 bodies inside by Massimo Domenico Bordone, a Genoa-based wreck-hunter, on Saturday. A T-class vessel, the British submarine was vanished from January 2, 1943 and was believed to hit by a mine in the Gulf of Olbia. ‘The vessel was presumed sunk after contact was lost with it on December 31 1942,’ sources said.

According to reports, submarine HMS P-311 had left Port Malta on December 28, 1942 for its first mission. It lost all contact from December 31 that year and was completely vanished one month from that, on January 2. HMS P-311 went to destroy two Italian battleships at the port of La Maddalena. HMS P-311 was the only of its kind of a submarine to be used in WWII. HMS Trespasser was built to a similar design to P-311 later.

The diving team, lead by Bordone, asserted that the ruins of the submarine was found in a good condition with little amount of damage in it due to the explosion. “It looks like she probably went down with air sealed inside, meaning the crew eventually died of oxygen deprivation. It's important to have the utmost respect for wrecks in cases like this,” said diving team leader Bordone.  

The Royal Navy told that submarine HMS P-311 ‘would almost certainly not be moved from its final resting place, even with bodies inside.’ The navy asserted: “Wrecks are only raised if there are extremely compelling historical or operational reasons to do so. Once a military vessel sinks it becomes a war grave and is left where it lies.”