Lost World War One warship wreck discovered in Irish Sea

The team found that on the afternoon of 13 December 1917, HMS Stephen Furness was in the northern Irish Sea heading for repairs in Liverpool when it was struck by a single torpedo fired from UB-64, which had been patiently stalking the Irish Sea for an opportunity such as this for several days.

The impact from the torpedo resulted in an explosion causing the vessel to sink within three minutes.

Since that day, until now, the location of the attack and final resting place of HMS Stephen Furness remained a mystery.

The team also found that about a month after the sinking, four of the crew who lost their lives during the attack were washed up along the coast of north Wales almost a hundred miles to the south.

Archived meteorological data was used to understand how this happened and to examine what might happen in other similar scenarios.

New information from this discovery will enable researchers to explore beyond simple narratives of blockade and U-Boat war, and engage directly with the people involved, the lives they led, and the sacrifices they made.