A Nazi shipwreck that sank in the North Sea in 1942 is still polluting the seafloor around it, but there are signs of sea life adapting to the wreck.
The wreck of a Nazi patrol boat sunk by British warplanes in the North Sea in 1942 is still leaking hazardous chemicals 80 years later, according to new research.
However, there are some signs that marine life is adapting to the wreck, with some bacteria possibly munching on the sunken ship's remains.
The Kriegsmarine based the vessel in the occupied Dutch port of Rotterdam, and in February 1942 it served in Operation Cerberus — a major naval action also known as the"Channel Dash" — as part of a convoy escorting the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau through the English Channel to ports in Germany.
"The munitions and fuel found on this wreck were in common use across all Kriegsmarine ships," he said."A more heavily-armed destroyer or cruiser with the same munitions would be worth investigating, as our results show that the munition casings can be corroded through." The highest levels of metals like nickel and copper were found in the samples taken close to the ship's coal bunker — its supply of fuel — while the highest concentrations of PAHs were found in the samples taken closest to the vessel.
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