The Danton was a French battleship was laid down in 1906 and launched in 1909. She was a pre-dreadnought battleship which served with the French Mediterranean Fleet in the First World War. On 18th March 1917 she was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, U-64, while travelling between Toulon and Corfu. She was carrying 1102 men, which was more than normal as she was carrying the crew of other ships to Corfu. 896 were rescued, but 296 including her captain, Captain Delage, were lost.
It has just been announced that in late 2007 a company doing a survey for a gas pipeline discovered the wreck in 1000 metres of water, sitting upright with most of her gun turrets intact. The wreck is 35 km SW of Sardinia, some distance from where she was reported lost.
According to a BBC article, Rob Hawkins, project director with Fugro GeoConsulting Limited said that “Its condition is extraordinary.” He also said that “After it was hit by the torpedoes, the Danton clearly turned turtle and rotated several times. You can see where it dropped some infrastructure on the way down and then impacted on the seabed. You can see where it slid along the seabed before coming to a rest,”
Researchers compared the position of its heavy guns with those shown on the original plans to confirm its identity.
The gas pipeline has been diverted south-east of the wreck location to avoid the wreck and any structural items that may have fallen from it as it fell to the seabed.
The photographs are from BBC’s website where you can read the full story and even see some video of the wreck.
