Sunken World War II submarine found off Nantucket

Divers have discovered a World War II-era German submarine nearly 70 years after it sank under withering US attack in waters off Nantucket, Massachusetts.

The U-550 was found by a privately funded group organised by New Jersey lawyer Joe Mazraani. It was the second trip in two years to the site by the team, some of whom had been searching for the lost U-boat for two decades.

The WW II German submarine U-550 was discovered 70 miles south of Nantucket Massachusetts on 23 July 2012.

The U-550 was sunk by depth charges on April 16, 1944 after successfully torpedoing the American tanker, the Pan Pennsylvania. The exact location of the U-550 has never been known and though there have been several searches for the location of theU-550, all have been unsuccessful.

The U-550 is one of several World War II-era German U-boats that have been discovered off the US coast, but it's the only one that sank in that area, Mazraani said.

Using specialised side scan sonar large area search techniques, an area totaling over 70 square miles of seafloor were covered in two days of search operations resulting in the location of the U-550.

The sonar image shows the U-550 sitting upright and tilting to her starboardside. Underwater images of the deck and torpedo loading hatch were captured and the images were assembled into a composite photo mosaic.

Further documenting of the wreck site is planned.