Brazilian Navy Confirms Wreck of Lost WWII Troop Transport

 

Archeologists in Brazil have finally resolved the mystery of a World War II military ship that was torpedoed and sunk by a Nazi submarine, killing 100 of her 270 crew members. The Brazilian Navy reports that after more than eight decades, the wreck of Vital de Oliveiro has been identified by sonar imaging lying some 65 kilometers off the coast of Rio De Janeiro.

The Vital de Oliveiro was a troop transport built in 1910 and originally called Itauba. The ship joined the Navy’s fleet in 1931, and during the war, she was active in transporting military personnel and supplies along the Brazilian coast.

The ship met her fate on the night of July 19, 1944 when she was torpedoed by German submarine U-861, causing her sinking and the deaths of 100 crewmembers. Vital de Oliveiro was the only Brazilian military ship to be wrecked by enemy forces during the war.

For decades, the final resting place for Vital de Oliveiro remained a mystery until 2011, when it was discovered by divers Jose Luíz and Everaldo Popermeyer Meriguete. The two brothers were responding to a call by a fisherman whose net had been stuck at the bottom of the ocean. They sought the help of deep-sea diver Domingos Afonso Jório, who established the net was entangled in a cannon and notified Brazil's navy.

On January 15, archeologists aboard an oceanographic research vessel were able to conclusively identify the wreck of the ship using multibeam and side-scan sonar, making it possible to visualize the hull and other structural elements of the wreck.

“Shipwrecks and other submerged structures are material records of Brazil’s maritime history. This evidence allows us to understand trade routes, naval strategies, technological advances and episodes such as military confrontations and maritime disasters,” said Brazilian Navy Lieutenant Capitan Caio Cezar Pereira Demilio.

In addition to Vital de Oliveiro, the Brazilian Navy lost two other warships during WWII. These were Camaquã, a corvette that capsized in a storm in 1944 with the loss of 23 crew members; Bahia, a cruiser that sank in 1945 after accidentally detonating its own depth charges during gunnery practice, killing 333.