Divers may have found scuttled U-boat
The Mallow Search and Rescue Unit has now been asked by the authorities in the North and the Royal Navy to conduct more detailed scans on the wreck site over the coming days as efforts are stepped up to identify the mystery object.
It was found about three weeks about as the Mallow team swept the lake using their state-of-the-art side-scanning sonar device in a search for a missing person.
“We have only used the device to look for people in the water,” said , Martin O’Sullivan of Mallow Search and Rescue.
“But then this image came up on the screen and we though: ‘What the hell is that?’
“It’s by far the strangest thing the sonar has ever found.”
The team was told to keep the discovery quiet and the exact location secret while the authorities in the North worked out how to manage the site.
There may be unexploded ordnance on board, which could pose a hazard to divers.
Mallow team members attended talks with the Royal Navy and government ministers in Lishally docks on Monday.
Speaking afterwards, the North’s environment minister, Alex Attwood, said he is ordering detailed scans of the site over the next week, involving the Mallow unit, before divers from the Royal Navy explore it further.
Senior naval officer Commander John Gray said that if it turns out to be a U-boat, it would be of great historical value.
It was initially thought that the craft was a midget submarine. But following a detailed examination of the scans, there is now a suggestion it may actually be a much bigger German craft.
Mr Attwood said: “The big outcome from the meeting is that over the next few days all those with the ability and the opportunity to scan this site will do so.
“Subject to the agreement of the Royal Navy, navy divers will then go down and determine once and for all what the object is.
“We should be able to get all of that done in seven to 10 days.
“It may well be a wreck of some description or a war grave, and there may be ordnance there.”
Mr Attwood said a decision to raise the object will only be made once it is identified.
Commander Gray praised the Mallow unit for their involvement so far.
“The equipment the team have brought up has produced very detailed and very impressive images of this underwater object and these indicate there is something there that does need to be investigated further,” he said.
“It is too early to say whether this is a vessel but with the history of the Foyle, the U-boat presence here, the Royal Navy and Air Force presence here during the Second World War, there is a likelihood that if it is a vessel, it is linked to the war and would definitely have historical value.
“Looking at the images and listening to some of the local amateur historians, there is certainly a convincing case that it could be a submarine.”
Derry was one of the most important naval bases during the Second World War.
The city was selected for the symbolic German submarine fleet surrender to recognise its vital role in the conflict.
The Mallow team’s €45,000 side-scanning sonar was donated by the family of Brian Ó Tuama, from Ballyvourney in Co Cork.
The 19-year-old drowned in the River Lee in Nov 2009. The Mallow unit found his body 12 days later.
His father, Brian, set up a fund afterwards to help equip the unit.
