The mystery of the sinking of the legendary ship has been solved!

After many years of work on the wreck of the first submarine “H.L. Hunley”, which fought in the Civil War under the Confederate flag, scientists managed to solve the mystery behind its sinking. The vessel and its 8 crew members were never heard of again in 1864, until the wreck was discovered in 1995.

The miniature ship made history by being the first submarine to sink an enemy warship, the USS “Housatonic”. Unfortunately, the crew never returned from this mission and despite many years of research, the cause of the sinking of the first submarine was unknown. Until today.

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After the wreck was found in 1995, it was decided to excavate the vessel, which was done in 2000. Since then, scientists have worked to clean the vessel, which has been completely covered in sand, sediment and rust for 150 years. Now, after 18 years of conservation work, it has been determined that the failure to activate the emergency ballast discharge mechanism was behind the sinking of the “H.L. Hunley”.

After removing corrosion, silt and sediment from the hull, the scientists found that the three levers of the emergency ballast discharge mechanism were locked in their normal position. Thus they solved the mystery of the fate that befell the Confederate submarine.

The pioneering submariners failed to disconnect the 1,000-pound keel blocks, making it impossible to return to the surface. Instead, the submarine was trapped underwater and the crew died from lack of oxygen.

Source: dailymail.co.uk