This is not a joke...
A Kriegsmarine U-boat has been found in practically the exact place where the Titanic anchored at her last port of call in 1912.
All 27 crew on board the mine-laying sub UC-42 died when the submarine sank at the entrance to Cork Harbour on 10 September 1917.
The sub was wrongly thought to have survived the war and to have been later scuttled.
A team of five amateur divers from Cork discovered the submarine in good condition in 27m of water just off Roche's Point on 6 November after a 12 month search.
One of the divers, Ian Kelleher, said they were very surprised and ecstatic to find it with little obvious explosive damage.
Positive identification was possible when they found its number stamped on a propeller.
Mr Kelleher, a chemistry student, said that two days before Christmas, the dive team laid a plaque of remembrance near the propellers as a memorial to the 27 German submariners who died.
They plan to return to the site over the coming weeks and continue their research into the submarine and its crew, including trying to contact relatives of the deceased crewmen.
An extraordinary development - but then Queenstown and Haulbowline island provided a major RN base for patrolling the Southwestern Approaches, was the location of the Q Ships deception, and from 1917 would be home to a fleet of American warships.
A previous German vessel, the Aud / Libau was scuttled in Cork harbour in 1916, but that is another story... 20,000 rifles on board...
A Kriegsmarine U-boat has been found in practically the exact place where the Titanic anchored at her last port of call in 1912.
All 27 crew on board the mine-laying sub UC-42 died when the submarine sank at the entrance to Cork Harbour on 10 September 1917.
The sub was wrongly thought to have survived the war and to have been later scuttled.
A team of five amateur divers from Cork discovered the submarine in good condition in 27m of water just off Roche's Point on 6 November after a 12 month search.
One of the divers, Ian Kelleher, said they were very surprised and ecstatic to find it with little obvious explosive damage.
Positive identification was possible when they found its number stamped on a propeller.
Mr Kelleher, a chemistry student, said that two days before Christmas, the dive team laid a plaque of remembrance near the propellers as a memorial to the 27 German submariners who died.
They plan to return to the site over the coming weeks and continue their research into the submarine and its crew, including trying to contact relatives of the deceased crewmen.
An extraordinary development - but then Queenstown and Haulbowline island provided a major RN base for patrolling the Southwestern Approaches, was the location of the Q Ships deception, and from 1917 would be home to a fleet of American warships.
A previous German vessel, the Aud / Libau was scuttled in Cork harbour in 1916, but that is another story... 20,000 rifles on board...