German sailors in the conning tower of a U-boat during the First World War

The wreck of a World War One German U-boat has been found in the North Sea. Windfarm developers discovered the submarine lying about 55 miles east of Caister-on-Sea in Norfolk.

Historians believe the wreck to be that of U-31, which went missing in January 1915. All 35 men on board died and, as an official military maritime grave, the wreck will remain where it lies.

Unexpected discovery

Scans of the seabed in the vicinity have uncovered more than 60 wrecks over a two-year period. While some of these were already known, the windfarm developers were not expecting to find a missing U-boat.

U-31 probably hit a mine while patrolling the North Sea and would have sunk in a matter of minutes. Of the 17,000 German sailors who served on board U-boats in the First World War, more than 5,100 lost their lives.