# "New" shipwreck found in the Baltic Sea **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 12, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-shipwreck-found-in-the-baltic-sea/994484 "2023-12-12T15:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-shipwreck-found-in-the-baltic-sea/994484/1 "2023-12-12T15:31:01Z")
Not new as in a new ship obviously, but new as in undiscovered before now. It will be interesting to see where it’s from originally, and if it’s a “known” lost ship from elsewhere that was pushed off course by wind and waves. > **[Mysterious shipwreck measuring over 200 feet long found at bottom of Baltic Sea](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mysterious-shipwreck-220-feet-baltic-sea-lithuania/)** > > Researchers surveying a portion of the Baltic Sea off Lithuania for a renewable energy project discovered the previously unknown shipwreck. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2023, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-shipwreck-found-in-the-baltic-sea/994484/2 "2023-12-12T16:22:04Z")
That’s very shallow water (125 ft) for there to be much mystery. That a wind energy survey crew made the discovery suggests it’s probably not too far off of Lithuania’s fairly short coast, too. On the other hand, Kaliningrad is right there and there was and is all sorts of spooky stuff going on in and through the Baltic. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2023, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-shipwreck-found-in-the-baltic-sea/994484/3 "2023-12-12T16:25:46Z")
That article is awfully short of detail… Do we know anything at all about the ship yet? Even basics like whether it’s wood, steel, or some other material? ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2023, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-shipwreck-found-in-the-baltic-sea/994484/4 "2023-12-12T16:28:17Z")
I assume there’s some kind of formula to determine how cold the water would have to be before a wooden ship would dissolve? And the way they’re talking indicates they think it might be older than steel, but I could well be wrong about that. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2023, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-shipwreck-found-in-the-baltic-sea/994484/5 "2023-12-12T18:05:23Z")
or even if it is actually a ship and not just some ship-resembling natural object. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2023, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-shipwreck-found-in-the-baltic-sea/994484/6 "2023-12-12T19:05:19Z")
One of the biggest threats to sunken wood is [shipworms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipworm), which bore into the wood and eventually destroy it. But because the Baltic Sea has lower salinity than most of the ocean, shipworms are not as common there. So a wooden ship would last longer in the Baltic than in, say, the Mediterranean. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2023, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-shipwreck-found-in-the-baltic-sea/994484/7 "2023-12-12T21:32:17Z")
Interesting! Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2023, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-shipwreck-found-in-the-baltic-sea/994484/8 "2023-12-12T21:43:27Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > So a wooden ship would last longer in the Baltic than in, say, the Mediterranean. For example, [the _Vasa_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-shipwreck-found-in-the-baltic-sea/994484/9 "2023-12-13T00:47:27Z")
It’s almost exactly the same size as a typical WWII U-boat (220ft long and a beam of 20ft - since it is on it’s side the surveyors are calling it 20 ft high) and the imaging looks just like a sub laying on it’s side with 40 feet of it’s bow askew as if it was bombed or hit a mine. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-shipwreck-found-in-the-baltic-sea/994484/10 "2023-12-13T05:05:04Z")
If it’s made of wood, and the skeletal remains of lions, tigers, and dinosaurs are found inside, then it’s definitely Noah’s ark.