The world's deepest sunken shipwrecks

The famous Titanic sank at a depth of about 3,810 m, but that is still far from the deepest wreck ever discovered.

The world's deepest sunken shipwrecks — Titanic wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Video: *WHOI*

The Titanic, which sank in 1912, is attracting renewed attention after the Titan submersible carrying five people touring the Titanic lost contact in the Atlantic Ocean on June 18. Early on June 23 (Hanoi time), the US Coast Guard announced that it had discovered debris from the Titan, indicating that the ship was forced to explode.

The Titanic sank about 600 kilometers off Newfoundland, Canada. According to the website of OceanGate Expeditions, tours of the wreck are available from 2021, costing $250,000 per person. The ship lies at a depth of about 3,810 meters, more than twice as deep as the famous Grand Canyon in the United States and five times the height of the world's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa.

However, this depth is still far from the world's deepest shipwreck - the USS Samuel B. Roberts, also known as "Sammy B". The ship was discovered almost a year ago, in June 2022, at a depth of 6,895 m in the Philippine Sea. American explorer Victor Vescovo discovered the ship decades after the tragedy.

The USS Samuel B. Roberts participated in the final phase of the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf, when the Japanese Navy and U.S. forces fought in the Leyte Gulf, Philippines. During this phase, the ship was attacked and sunk by a battleship, killing 89 men. It still lies at a depth nearly four times that of the Grand Canyon.

The USS Samuel B. Roberts before it sank in the Philippine Sea. Photo: DM Published Images — The USS Samuel B. Roberts before it sank in the Philippine Sea. Photo: *DM Published Images*

The discovery of the USS Samuel B. Roberts last year cost the USS Johnston its title as the world’s deepest shipwreck. The USS Johnston, a US Navy destroyer that sank on October 25, 1944, after a battle with the Japanese during World War II, had only held that title for about a year. The wreck was first discovered in 2019 off the island of Samar in the Philippine Sea and officially confirmed in 2021. The ship lies at a depth of 6,456 meters, about the depth of 15 Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other.

In 2019, experts on the research vessel Petrel released a video showing the twisted hull of the USS Johnston on the ocean floor. "We did not find any intact hull structure. The ship was completely destroyed, only fragments remained," the team said when they found the wreck.

Before the USS Johnston, the SS Rio Grande held the record for the world’s deepest shipwreck for nearly 30 years. The ship was discovered in 1996, nearly 1,000 kilometers off the coast of Brazil. To this day, debris and items from the ship still wash up on the shore. The SS Rio Grande was a German World War II ship that was attacked by American fighter planes in 1944 and sank to a depth of about 5,762 meters.

The SS City of Cairo, sunk 770 km south of St Helena. Photo: DM Published Images — The SS City of Cairo, sunk 770 km south of St Helena. Photo: *DM Published Images*

Following the SS Rio Grande on the list of the world’s deepest shipwrecks is the SS City of Cairo, which sank 5,150 meters below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. The ship was torpedoed by a Nazi U-boat in 1942 and sank to the bottom of the sea. At the time, it was carrying 136 passengers and about 100 tons of silver coins. The coins were recovered in 2015.

The Deep Ocean Search (DOS) company was commissioned by the British government to search for artifacts from the ship. The silver coins now belong to the British government and are estimated to be worth around £34 million.

"The mission team quickly realized that operating at great depths posed serious technical difficulties. These difficulties were new to us and had to be resolved quickly. The combination of pressure, temperature, repeated dives at this depth and other issues led to many system failures that we had not encountered before, working at depths of 3,000 - 4,000 m," a DOS spokesperson shared about the mission.

Thu Thao (According to Mail )

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