Soviet submarine S-2

S-2 was the designation of a Stalinets class submarine of the Soviet Navy. In early 1940, it entered Swedish territorial waters in the Sea of Åland. There it hit a Swedish naval mine, and sank on January 2, 1940. All of the 50 crewmembers on board perished.

[edit] Wreck discovery
A search for the submarine wreck was begun in April 1999[1] by a team of divers from Sweden and Åland. According to the Military Archives of Sweden, the submarine encountered the mine on Swedish territorial waters, but the Finnish archives specify the sinking occurred on Finnish territorial waters. The uncertainty of position necessitated a prolonged search. The diving team finally discovered the wreck inside Swedish territorial waters. One member of the diving team, Ingvald Eckerman, is a grandson of J. A. Eckerman who, as the lighthouse-keeper of the lighthouse at Märket, witnessed the submarine sinking in 1940.[2]

The wreck will be emptied of munitions during the summer of 2012.[3]

[edit] References

 * 1) ^ "Sovjetiskt ubåtsvrak hittat (Soviet submarine wreck found)" (in Swedish). Svenska Dagbladet web site. June 9, 2009. http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/artikel_3034633.svd.
 * 2) ^ Long-lost World War II sub found off Swedish coast. CNN. 9 June 2009.
 * 3) ^ Ahvenanmeren venäläissukellusvene tyhjennetään räjähteistä. Ilta-Sanomat, 25 April 2012. Retrieved on 2012-04-25.