Low Water Levels Reveal Sunken Nazi Ships Full of Unexploded Munitions in the Danube River

As Soviet forces advanced in Eastern Europe in 1944, Nazi troops began deliberately sinking their ships in the Danube River. For much of the past 80 years, the scuttled German vessels—including torpedo boats, tugboats, transport ferries and barges—remained hidden beneath the surface. 

Earlier this month, however, some of the vessels reemerged from the water, per Reuters’ Krisztina Fenyo and Fedja Grulovic.

A summer drought caused the river’s water levels to drop, revealing the World War II wreckage near Prahovo, a river port town in Serbia. Some of the ships were almost completely buried under sand, while parts of others were more visible, including their command bridges, hulls, masts and turrets, according to Reuters.

The sunken vessels make it difficult for modern boats to navigate parts of the Danube, which travels 365 miles through Serbia. In Djerdap Gorge near Prahovo, the sunken ships have narrowed the waterway to roughly 330 feet.

However, removing them presents another set of challenges, as the wreckage still holds unexploded munitions.

“The ships are full of mines, shells and unexploded [ordnances], which could cause major, catastrophic problems if they were to explode,” Velimir Miki Trailovic, a local historian, tells Ognjen Zoric of Agence France-Presse (AFP).

This isn’t the first time the ships have emerged: They also surfaced in 2022 amid record-low water levels. 

Around that time, the Serbian government launched a roughly $30 million operation to remove 21 of the vessels, which was funded by the European Investment Bank and Western Balkans Investment Framework. Crews successfully pulled the first ship, a minesweeper, from the river last month, per AFP.

Rhine-Danube Corridor: Removal of WWII ships from Danube

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European Union officials are motivated to support the project because shipping goods via waterways is usually cheaper and more energy-efficient than moving them on land.

“As an example, one ship can carry the same amount of grain as 120 trucks,” said Emanuel Giaufret, the E.U. ambassador in Serbia, in a 2022 statement.

Similarly, at the Danube-Drava National Park in Hungary, four ships built before 1950 also emerged earlier this month because of the drought. The origins of those vessels are unclear.

“We still don’t know what this is exactly,” Endre Sztellik, a guard at the national park, tells Reuters, adding: “An unfortunate fact is that the wreck is diminishing, as people are interested in it and parts of it are going missing.”

The drought in July and August created challenging conditions across Eastern Europe, sometimes leading to lower crop yields. For the third summer in a row, farmers in Serbia were forced to begin harvesting their corn and sunflower crops much earlier than usual, Euronews reported last month.

“You see, there are a lot of bare [corn stalks],” Tomica Vojnić, a farmer in the village of Tavankut, told the publication. “Many of them don't have an ear at all, or it’s [very] small.”

Meanwhile, parts of Central Europe are experiencing devastating flooding caused by heavy rainfall. According to the Associated Press’ Vanessa Gera, emergency responders in Poland, Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania have been reinforcing river banks and delivering food and drinking water to towns that have been cut off.

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.