The underwater remains off England’s Cornwall coast appear to belong to a lost fleet of British warships. Only one has been found so far.

What did the divers find?

After the divers photographed the wreck, which was almost 100 meters deep in the Celtic Sea, they contacted Harry Bennett, Associate Professor of History at the University of Plymouth, to see if he could help them understand what they had found. The professor guessed the wreck may belong to a British Royal Navy Landing Craft, Tank or LCT.

Simultaneously, several such ships were sunk by a storm during World War II while withdrawing from the European war zone to the Far East in anticipation of an escalation.

This is what the LCT ships looked like Photo: Barbara Mortimer

Ships of the Royal Navy’s 9th Amphibious Squadron were towed into the Mediterranean in October 1944 when high winds began to overload ships not built to withstand such conditions. More than 50 crew members died and six of the fleet’s nine ships sank.

Ship found at bottom / Photo: Rick Ayrton

Ship found at bottom / Photo: Rick Ayrton

Although the official site where LCT 488 sank is about 45 miles away, Professor Bennett says it’s not uncommon for winds and waves to move light vessels like these tankers around the world.

Photos taken at the wreck site show details consistent with other LCTs of the era, and while they’re not entirely sure which lost ships they found, there’s still overwhelming evidence they found something from WWII. It is not yet known how many ships are in the surrounding waters. It is also unclear whether they are all in one place or whether they were dispersed by the current at the bottom.