Soviet Sub Found 71 Years After It Sank

A Soviet sub lost during the World War II was recently found by Swedish divers on the seabed of the Baltic Sea, 71 years after it sank.

Soviet sub found (Photo: Swedish Armed Forces)

"In the autumn of 1941 several Russian submarines left their home bases to patrol the Baltic Sea. Several of them never returned. One of them has now been found, blown up into large pieces, southeast of Öland," the Swedish Armed Forces said in a statement.

Experts suggest it is S-6 submarine based on the Russian letters still readable on the sub's hull and the year of 1936 stamped on the main 100-mm gun.

The S-6 was a diesel-electric attack submarine belonging to the S-class of vessels nicknamed the Stalinets or "follower of Stalin." She was laid down on Dec 28, 1935 at Shipyard No. 189 in Leningrad. On Aug 2, 1941 the submarine started her last deployment to the Bornholm Island (Denmark); then the contact was lost, and the sub's further fate was unknown.

It is not yet certain what may have caused S-6 to go down but the Swedish military theorized that the submarine simply sailed right into the German minefield and was blown up.

In 2009, the wreck of the S-2, another Soviet sub sunk by mines in January 1940 with some 50 crew members on board, was also found in waters further north between Sweden and Finland.