The discovery of what is believed to be the wreck of a Soviet submarine, some 45 miles (70 kilometres) south of the Swedish island of Gotland and inside the Swedish economic zone, triggered speculation the vessel was sunk by the Swedish navy during submarine hunts in the 1980s.
In this photo, taken in 2009, but not made available until Thursday March 3, 2011, a diver is seen close to a sunken submarine discovered south of the island of Gotland, Sweden
However, Swedish Navy spokesman Capt. Bo Rask said Thursday there were no signs the submarine had been damaged by weaponry, but a metal wire
The submarine, a Whiskey-class vessel from the 1950s that was once common in the Soviet navy, was discovered by chance during a seabed survey.
The wreck lies on the seabed in the Swedish economic zone. Some hope that the find will finally prove that Sweden were subject to repeated intrusions by former Eastern bloc submarnes during the 1980s.
The surveyors handed over images and other information to the Swedish authorities, but the military stated that it will not look into the matter. This despite the fact that the commander in chief Bengt Gustafsson believe that the submarine could help explain what the Swedish military was looking for during the submarine hunt in the 1980s,
It would be interesting to find a foreign submarine damaged by warfare. During the 1980s and early 1990s, only Sweden actively engaged and fought intruding submarines, he told the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.
The CEO of the surveying company who found the sub, Ola Oskarsson, believe further investigations are need to determine whether the submarine was lost while on tow or sunk by the Swedish military.
No further dives
However Bo Rask, Chief of Staff at the Naval Tactical Command, sees no reason do conduct further dives in the wreck at this juncture. According to him the images of the wreck how no signs of any damage from weapons. By contrast a cable can be spotted running under the deck lending support to the possibility that it was being towed.
We have known about this wreck for only a week and a half. The images we have seen so far clearly show that the submarine was under tow and big holes were cut to make access. At this early stage it is therefore our belief the submarine was heading for the scrap yard and that something has happened during the transport, he said
We do not rule out other explanations nor deem it uninteresting, but for now we must made do with the quite limited resources at hand .Since the images are so clear, I think we should lie low for a while, there is nothing urgent.
According to former Chief of Defence Staff, Bengt Gustafsson, there is a possibility that it could be a Polish Whiskey-submarine which could have been hit by anti-submarine grenades off Utö in the 1980’s
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