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Secrets Of Sunken WW1 Submarine Revealed

The hunt is on to find the descendants of a First World War submarine crew whose boat sank 100 years ago. 
 
HMS E5 was attempting to rescue the survivors of a sinking ship when she herself sank off the Dutch coast with 29 people on board.
 
Now her wreck has been discovered, by a team of Dutch maritime archaeologists.
 
Emerging from the murky depths of the North Sea, this is the first glimpse of her watery grave (see above).
 
A 3D model of the wreck has helped the team work out what happened to HMS E5, meanwhile.
 
 
Diving down to explore HMS E5 was dangerous, because of the busy shipping lane above.
 
The team was eventually granted a short suspension, so the dive could go ahead.
 
The discovery of E5 is not just important for the families, but also for our understanding of First World War submarines:
 
 
Her fate has been put down to a German mine, or even a torpedo, but what caused her to sink has always remained a mystery.
 
Her amazingly intact hull doesn't reveal any major damage, and the hatches are open, perhaps revealing the crew tried to escape.
 
 
The team would like relatives and descendants of the crew to come forward, to help piece together the submarine's fate.
 
A century after she sank, HMS E5 could finally give up her secrets.
 
 
 
FOOTAGE: www.onderwaterbeelden.nl, Peter van Rodijnen
 

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