Baltictech group finds and identifies two WWII wrecks

During a recent trip to the Baltic Sea, the Baltictech group found and identified two WWII Kriegsmarine wrecks.

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Baltictech divers, with the help of their Danish friend Thomas Nielsen, have identified the wrecks of two WWII-era vessels. These are the tanker Liselotte and the torpedo boat Tiger, which were lost by the Germans respectively at the very beginning and very end of the World War II.

However, let’s start from the begining. It all started five years ago, when Polish divers found a heavily damaged and net-covered wreck. Unfortunately, the condition and remote location were not conducive to thorough exploration and it took time to unravel the mystery. Fortunately, a constant dropping wears away a stone and the Baltictech group has no shortage of inquisitive people.

In 2017 we ended up in the middle of the sea on an oil tanker wreck that was badly damaged and covered by fishing nets. As it was really far away, we only dived on it once a year during our trip to Bornholm or Öland. However, this story did not give us a break. Tomasz Zwara in particular droned on about it every time we were around. He was the one who first pointed out to us that what we interpreted as the bow was in fact the sternof the shipheavily covered by fishing nets– we read on Baltictech’s profile.

The right perspective

Sometimes by looking at something the wrong way, we can miss the obvious. It was the same in this case, where a change of perspective proved crucial and was the stone that pulled the avalanche. From that point on, things moved very quickly and all the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together.

Suddenly, everything was falling into place for us. The Maritime Institute took a multibeam image of the wreck at our request. Then we contacted our friend in Denmark Thomas Nielsen. He hinted to us that in this area, on the last day of the war – 9 May 1945 – the Soviets had sunk the German tanker Liselotte. A comparison of photos and sonar images, and two subsequent dives, reassured us that this was the wreck.

However, the discoveries did not end there. In the same region just 15 Nm from the Liselotte wreck lay another wreck. At a depth of 91m, another nearly 100m long vessel was waiting to be identified. At this position, the group also made two dives.

Here it was no longer so easy, as the wreck was destroyed and the depth was considerable. We were a bit lucky, however, as we found the remains of the superstructure. Maciej Honc, on the other hand, recorded some interesting footage. After consultation, it was the thing that gave us confidence that we were dealing with the German torpedo boat Tiger.

Interesting story of the wrecks found

Although the two wrecks found and identified by Baltictech divers are vessels that were sunk as part of the war effort, they are not wrecks of famous and powerful ships that took part in key battles. Nevertheless, the aforementioned tanker Liselotte and torpedo boat Tiger also have something in their history that makes them unique.

Well, the torpedo boat Tiger was sunk on 27 August 1939 during an manoeuvres in the Baltic, just before the outbreak of the World War II. The tanker Liselotte, on the other hand, was sunk on 9 May 1945 and was the Kreigsmarine’s last loss as a result of the war effort (two more vessels had entered on stray mines). The two wrecks are separated by a short distance, and we discovered and identified them during the same cruises. It may not be much, but to us this story seems remarkable.

This is another interesting discovery made by the Baltictech group. Speaking of Baltictech, you can find out more about these two wrecks (and much more) during the November conference in Gdynia.

The Baltictech group found and identified the wrecks in a line-up:

Tomasz Stachura, Tomasz Zwara, Marek Cacaj, Maciej Honc, Maciej Marcinkowski, Kamil Macidłowski, Piotr Wilk, Lukasz Pastwa and Bartłomiej Pitala, with the assistance and consultation of Thomas Nielsen.

Without a doubt, in 2021 one of the most important diving events in Poland was the expedition to the wreck of the steamer SS Karlsruhe. You will read more about it in the 19th issue the DIVERS24 quarterly magazine! The digital version of the magazine is available free of charge, while the printed version you can buy in our online shop.