SideScan

Rumors tell that there was a German WW2 tank sunk in one of the Norwegian inland-lakes. No rumor shall be forgotten without looking into it!

During the summer of 2006 we rigged a small RIB boat with a single sided 200KHz sidescan, and did some scans along the cliff in the sea where the rumors tell that there was a German tank missing during the first days of the German invasion of Norway.
This is a tank of similar type:

We did not have too much hope that we would make any discoveries at this site, as the site have been dived by several sport-divers during the years.
And so it was, we did not make any contacts during the day.

A couple of days later, during post processing of the sidescan data, we made a sensational discovery! We had located the missing German tank!

The tank can be seen at the bottom middle of the image. The tank is “facing” the viewer in the image.
This is a small tank, and the image is not the best. But we can still see the gun barrel on the small tower, and the belts on the tank.
The location of the tank have not been revealed for the public.

glenn@gasss-tech.com

This is another wreck close to Mjøsa and Minnesund, lying in shallow waters.
This waters are cold and the wood in the wrecks survive for decades (so it seems).

glenn@gasss-tech.com

Back in 2005 an old wreck was located in the lake Mjøsa, the largest inland-lake in Norway.

The discovery of the wreck was done while setting up and tuning the sidescan system.
The site have been reported and registered with the Norwegian Maritime Museum.
This lake was the main transportation route in these parts of Norway in early times, as the lenght of the lake is about 110Km running North-South from Lillehammer to Minnesund in Eidsvoll.

This is the best image we have of the wreck, as the wreck is almost completely burried in sand.

The wreck lays on the seafloor close to where the old steam-wheeler passes on its way to the shipyard at Minnesund. The site is not very deep, just a few meters during normal water height.

glenn@gasss-tech.com