Motor vessel Armenia sank in 1941 by German bombing discovered in Black Sea
19:24, 27 April, 2020
YEREVAN, APRIL 27, ARMENPRESS. Motor vessel Armenia sank in 1941 by German bombing has been discovered in Black Sea, 15 km away from Crimea. ARMENPRESS reports, citing Ria Novosti, the sinking of the vessel was one of the greatest sea tragedies of the world. According to various assessments, the vessel was carrying from 6 to 10 thousand refugees and injured people. For the examination of the vessel 1500 meters under water a Russian made underwater remote control device was used, which made the first photos of the object.
The Russian specialists have ruled out the possibility of the vessel being torpedoed, which was the official version of the disaster. At the same time there are traces of obvious destructions on the deck of the vessel which can be caused by air strikes.
The searches of the sunk vessel were most actively conducted during the last 20 years. Over 300 square kilometers were studied during this period. The Russian Defense Ministry was in charge for the searches.
The Soviet hospital ship Armenia was a transport ship operated by the Soviet Union during World War II to carry both wounded soldiers and military cargo. It had originally been built as a passenger ship for operations on the Black Sea.
Armenia, built in 1928 at Baltic Shipyards in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), was one of four Adzharia-class passenger liners specifically designed for use on the Black Sea. They were the first passenger ships to be built in the newly formed Soviet Union.
The vessel was attacked on November 7 and sank in a period of 4 minutes. Just a few people survived.
Reporting by Lilit Demuryan, Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan