Submarine Vanished Without A Trace In 1942, But Divers Have Now Solved The Mystery Of Its Fate
A dark shape is moving into the black depths off Malta’s Grand Harbor. From the dockside, a woman watches it move. For a moment, she thinks she sees her new husband running across the deck of the submarine. Hopefully he’ll be back soon. But she strains her eyes as the sub is swallowed up by the night, onto its next mission. The April 1942 morning is still and quiet, no bombing raid tonight. Yet for all this, the HMS Urge will never be seen again. And what happened to her will remain unsolved for decades.
In the sea off Malta, divers are exploring a strange find, discovered by university researchers. They have been searching the seabed for 20 years, uncovering the secrets of the Mediterranean island’s territorial waters. And here, hundreds of feet below the surface, the team finally finds answers to the mystery of the Urge.
Although the war was a long time ago now, there are still those whose hearts were broken by the loss it brought. Yet the story of what became of their loved ones is finally revealed. So the families of the crew of the submarine, and the passengers who accompanied them, will at last have closure.
The Urge was a “U-class” submarine. Although they were only little, and intended for use in training submariners, they proved powerful combatants in the war at sea. Submarines were a dangerous place to be inside, of course, with 20 of the 48 U-class vessels ending up lost in action.
But the small subs – less than 200 feet long – gave as good as they got. They were equipped with ten torpedoes and, if needed, a three-inch deck gun. The undersea sharks of the U-class cruised at ten knots flat out. Only 15 feet across and drawing just a bit more than 17 feet, they were perfect for operating in the Mediterranean.
