Boffins have managed to recreate a 3D model of a World-War-I-era US Navy submarine that sank in a Mexican bay while patrolling the coast.
Experts from the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) produced a 3D recreation of the USS H-1 wreckage after taking thousands of underwater photos.
The submarine, which operated during World War I (WWI), ran aground on a shoal on 12th March 1920 and the four servicemen on board, including the commanding officer Lieutenant Commander James R. Webb, died while trying to reach the shore.
The vessel sank while the US authorities tried to move it from the rocks, and further salvage attempts were then abandoned.
The head of the Underwater Archaeology Branch (SAS), Roberto Junco, told local media that the project, carried out in collaboration with the American archaeologist George Schwarz, aims to study and conserve the WWI-era vessel.
Junco explained that experts were able to measure and photograph the vessel 14 metres (46 feet) underwater during two different dives in 2017 and 2018.
He added: “The H-1 had thousands of photographs taken of its entire length and width and the images were then put into a computer programme to create a 3D version.”
According to reports, the subsequent 3D model allows experts to study the wreck with precision and assess its condition as well as possible areas where it may have been looted in the past.
The USS H-1 was launched on 6th May 1913 and was used for patrolling the western coast of the US, usually while escorted by an H-2 submarine.
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Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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