Divers found the only known surviving German boat of its class; it had spent nearly 83 years hidden 315 feet beneath the Ionian Sea

A small German warship, long forgotten, was found lying quietly on the seabed in the Ionian Sea off western Greece. As reported in a recent story from the site NavalHistory.gr, authored by historian Giorgos Karelas and diver Marinos Giourgas, a group of divers from the company AegeanTec has found this warship 96 metres (315 feet) underwater between the Greek islands of Lefkada and the coastal town of Preveza. This ship, designated as LS 6, sank in September 1943, and experts say that it is the last of its kind remaining in the world.

A single tip that took 13 years to follow

Most great discoveries start small. This one began with a single tip.


As reported by Arkeonews, in 2013, the German naval historian Peter Schenk handed over some old documents to a diver and filmmaker Vasilis Mentogiannis. These documents described a Kriegsmarine, or German navy, boat lost in the Ionian Sea under tow. There was no precise location for the wreck. Just a lead.

Karelas spent years sifting through German wartime archives, charts, and scattered notes to narrow down the search area. The search stretched on for over a decade before the team finally located the vessel north of Lefkada, the same report says. Diving to 96 metres is difficult because bottom time is short at that depth. The divers Marinos Giourgas and Vasilis Spyropoulos, who visited the site, used closed-circuit rebreathers to reach it and record what they discovered.

What divers found at 315 feet

When the ship's silhouette came into view, it did not look like a pile of debris. The hull remained largely intact, with damage confined mainly to one area.

The tow line still remains attached to the bow. The hatches are open, giving a clear view into the engine room, where the shape of its Junkers Jumo 205 diesel engines can still be seen, according to the NavalHistory.gr account. Part of the stern deck is strung with a small fishing net, and most of the hull is covered in marine growth, making it an artificial reef of sorts. The one significant area of damage sits around the engine room, probably from the attack that sank the vessel and the strain of being towed.

An unusual boat, built more like an airplane

LS 6 belonged to a class called Leichte Schnellboot, or "light fast boat." Most of the torpedo boats of the time, whether British, Italian, or American, were wooden ships. LS 6 wasn't.

The boat was built by Dornier, an aircraft manufacturer, using aviation’s lightweight aluminium construction techniques, according to Arkeonews. This kept its weight down to around 12 tons, light enough to be lifted by crane onto a larger mothership and lowered back into the water. Aluminum also resists decay far better than wood, which probably explains why the wreck is so well preserved.

The boat was only 12.5 metres long, so it couldn't fire torpedoes from the front without tipping its own nose underwater. Instead, engineers originally placed the torpedo tubes in the stern so the class could fire backwards while it sped away from the enemy. It could do in the region of 37 to 40 knots, fast even for a boat this size by today's standards.

LS 6 and its sister ship, LS 5, never used that stern-torpedo setup in service; both were refitted for submarine hunting before deployment. Instead of stern torpedo tubes, they had a depth charge door, which divers have confirmed can still be seen on the wreck.

Why the boat never really got its chance

LS 5 and LS 6 arrived in Greece in autumn 1943 and were assigned to the 21st Schnellboot Flotilla. But the boats did not go there directly because the Strait of Gibraltar was in Allied hands. Instead, they were transported overland by rail and road. They depended on a larger support vessel, codenamed MR 7, to guide them with sonar in their anti-submarine role. As the NavalHistory.gr account notes, MR 7 was transferred to the Black Sea before the plan could be put to real use.

On 24 September 1943, LS 6 was attacked by six Italian Reggiane Re.2002 fighter-bombers while sailing from Igoumenitsa to Corfu. It was disabled by nearby explosions. The Kriegsmarine then used minesweeper R-194 to tow the damaged boat to Piraeus for repairs. Water poured into the aluminium hull as it was being towed, cracks appeared, and the boat sank near Mytikas, off Preveza.

A rare glimpse into an almost-forgotten design history

Greek Reporter notes that LS 6 is the only known surviving vessel of its class in the world and is therefore of great value to historians studying wartime naval engineering. The find is also personal for the team that spent more than a decade chasing one archival clue. Nearly 83 years later, LS 6 still hangs onto its tow line; a silent record of the moment its last voyage ended.