Scientists have 'confirmed' a town legend after finding a World War One Royal Navy submarine - buried in a park.
Researchers say they have located the 100-year-old submarine using ground penetrating radar in Dartmouth.
Previously the ‘submarine under the park’ had only been a local legend after the boat was hulked in the area during the 1920's.
While only faint outlines of the submarine and a second object, thought to be a German torpedo boat, can be made out - researchers are now confident enough to say that they believe the vessel is HMS E52.
The British E-Class submarine was deployed in 1917 during the Great War, notably sinking the German submarine UC-63 while laying mines off the coast of Kent.
The findings were made by Dr Simon Roffey, Reader in Archaeology, and Dr David Ashby, who manages Winchester University’s Soil Laboratory.
After extensive research in the archives, serving submariner Tom – who teaches navigation at Britannia Royal Naval College overlooking the town – identified the craft as HMS E52.
The team located the boat despite having to search the park's 20,000 square metres of space - equivalent to 80-times the size of the submarine.
However, the submarine likely bears 'little resemblence' to it's initial design after 80 years underground, according to Tom.
He said: “It’s been my personal hobbyhorse for the better part of the past year.
“Confirming the final resting place of one of His Majesty’s Submarines – and a pretty successful one at that – would serve to remind and reiterate that our naval heritage is all around us and can often be clawed back from obscurity.
"Our time and energy could scarcely be better spent.”
Both E52 and it's partner torpedo boat, believed to be called 'S27', were bought for scrap following the war and later buried.
Other historic military kit from World War Two has been previously found throughout the south-west after American forces buried large stocks of un-used equipment following the D-Day landings in 1944.
The team are now hoping to gain permission from the local authority to dig small bore holes in the park to hopefully identify a piece of equipment or metal unique to E52.
Former Royal Navy submariner Simon added: “The ‘submarine under the park’ is a local legend, and it could make a wonderful tourist attraction if we could identify its exact location.”
“We know that there was a torpedo boat there but everyone assumed that it had been moved. Maybe it was stuck fast in the mud and they just left it there.”
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