The wreck of a Soviet submarine has been found in Swedish territorial waters.

The wreck of a Soviet submarine has been found. It is located about 70 kilometres south of Gotland, within the Swedish economic zone. Revealing the discovery of the wreck has started speculation that it may have been sunk by the Swedish navy during submarine hunts in the 1980s.

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A spokesman for the Swedish navy said the wreck bore no signs of damage by weapons, and the metal wire found on it could indicate that it had been towed for scrapping.

The boat whose wreck was found belonged to the Whiskey class. This was a popular class of submarine used by the navy of the Soviet Union. It is hoped that the found wreck will confirm the assumption that in the 1980s, the borders of Swedish territorial waters were repeatedly breached by Eastern Bloc submarines.

The discoverers of the boat handed over the collected material to the Swedish military authorities, who said they would not pursue the matter. This position was not even changed by the statement of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Bengt Gustafsson, who believes that the wreck would help explain what Sweden was looking for during the submarine hunt in the 1980s.

“It would be interesting to find a boat wreck damaged during hostilities. In the 1980s and 1990s, only Sweden was actively involved in the fight against submarines crossing the border.”.

The CEO of the search company that found the wreck, Ola Oskarsson, believes that further research is needed to make it clear whether the ship sank while being towed or whether it was sunk as a result of actions by Swedish ships.

Bo Rask, Chief of Naval Staff, sees no reason for further dives on the wreck. According to him, the photos do not show any signs of weapons. However, a cable can be clearly seen, the location of which suggests that the vessel was towed. “We haveknown about this wreck for only a week and a half. The photos we have received clearly show that the vessel was towed and special holes were even cut in its plating for this purpose. At this stage we are inclined to conclude that it was towed to a scrap yard and something along the way caused it to never get there.”

“We are not ruling out other explanations, but we currently have limited resources. Because the photographs are so clear, I believe there is nothing urgent to investigate this wreckage.”

According to former Chief of the Defence Staff, Bengt Gustafsson, there is a possibility that it could be a Polish Whiskey-class ship, hit by an anti-submarine missile in the 1980s.

Poland had between 1962 and 1986, 4 Whiskey class submarines. These were: ORP Orzeł, ORP Bielik, ORP Sokół and ORP Kondor.

source: http://www.svd.se/
photo: Jonas Dahm