A “rare” WW2 wartime submarine that was destroyed by the Royal Navy has been discovered by divers in Greece.

Greek divers have discovered the sunken remains of an Italian submarine in the Aegean Sea, 80 years after it was destroyed by Allied Forces during World War II. The submarine, known as the Jantina, set sail from Leros, Greece, with 48 sailors on board.

It sank after being shot by torpedoes launched by the British submarine HMS Torbay on July 5, 1941.

One of Greece’s most well-known divers, Kostas Thoctarides, and his team discovered the submarine at a depth of 103 meters south of the island of Mykonos. 

To find it, they deployed the ROV Super Achilles, a remotely controlled underwater vehicle that carried out a complete visual investigation of the debris.

Thoctarides, a maritime specialist, told Reuters: “Naval history is like a puzzle, and this is part of that puzzle.

“The confrontation of two submarines is a rare naval event.”

Using archives from Italy’s Naval History Office, researchers were able to confirm Jantina’s identity.

She is Mr. Thoctarides’ fourth submarine that he found and was able to figure out.

Mr. Thoctarides, a maritime history buff, has discovered submarines all throughout Greece’s waters, including Mykonos, Skiathos, Kefalonia, and the Saronic Gulf.

When it comes to discovering submarines in the Aegean Sea, he believes he has only scratched the surface.

He estimates that only a fourth of the wrecked ships have been discovered after years of analyzing shipwreck records.

He said: “Greece is a country with a very important naval history. “There is historical wealth in every region.”

The specialist inspected the wreckage underwater with a Super Achille remote operated vehicle (ROV).

The SUPER-ACHILLE is a powerful, flexible, and dependable ROV that can dive to depths of up to 1000 meters and is used for inspection, survey, and lightwork.

It’s typically used to aid divers, but it’s also useful for underwater site surveys of wrecks, coral, shells, pipelines, and other structures in extremely contaminated water or in difficult current conditions like strong currents of up to 2 knots.

Image Credit: Kostas Thoctarides/Handout via REUTERS

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