A German submarine dating from the World War II era has been uncovered 82 years later. Divers discovered the wreck of the German submarine U-672, which was lost during World War II, off Devon, England, at a depth of approximately 70 metres. Its identity was determined later. The wreck had previously been thought to belong to a sailing ship from World War I. The Gasperados dive team travelled to the site in August, following dives in July, and identified the submarine.
HMS Balfour attacked. U-672 came under this attack in July 1944, and its 52-strong crew survived by scuttling the submarine as it took on water. The crew survived the attack. The coordinates in naval records were approximately 40 nautical miles from the actual position, and the commander had waited as long as possible before bringing the vessel to the surface in order to give the crew a chance of survival.
Dominic Robinson of the team said the steel propeller was found on the wreck. The wreck also contained the remains of an early snorkel system and Aphrodite radar decoy equipment. The snorkel was a vital clue in the identification. Robinson said, “We have solved another underwater mystery, and that is a wonderful thing.” Following the discovery, the family of commander Ulf Lawaetz contacted the divers to express their delight that the wreck had been found 82 years later, and showed the small numbered plate that Lawaetz had kept.
Why it matters
The discovery corrected a war loss that had been misrecorded for decades: the wreck was thought to be a sailing ship dating from World War I, and the coordinates in naval records were about 40 nautical miles from its true location; these two errors explain why U-672 remained undiscovered for 82 years. The fact that the identification rests on technical details such as the snorkel system and the steel propeller shows that civilian diving teams can play a role in correcting official records in maritime history research. The development is not merely an archival matter either: the family of Ulf Lawaetz, commander of the 52-member crew that survived the attack in July 1944, learned the location of the wreck years later, and the plate they had kept formed a tangible link between the discovery and the family. The question of what other wrecks such errors in official records may be concealing remains open.
Background
The World is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 20 stories featuring this name in the last 90 days; the most recent is dated October 21, 2026.