A Swire Pacific Offshore (SPO) multi-purpose subsea vessel has helped to locate a sunken First World War warship after a five-year hunt.

A team working aboard the Seabed Constructor (built 2014) recently announced that they had found the wreck of SMS Scharnhorst off the Falkland Islands.

The search, which was organized by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, a charity which aims to advance the education of the public in the historical and social significance of the maritime heritage of the Falkland Islands.

The Scharnhorst, an armoured battlecruiser and the flagship of Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee’s East Asia Squadron, was sunk on 8 December 1914 during the Battle of the Falkland Islands, a crucial naval battle in the early days of the First World War.

This discovery has been described as a “major breakthrough” in the quest to locate all of the ships that comprised the German squadron lost during the battle.

The search began on the centenary of the Battle in December 2014, but was initially unsuccessful.

Five years later, the mission was resumed using four autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), exploring a search box of about 4,500 sq km of seabed.

The Scharnhorst was discovered on the third day of the search 98 nautical miles south east of Port Stanley at a depth of 1610 metres.

The Battle of the Falkland Islands followed the Battle of Coronel, fought off the coast of Chile in November 1914, where Graf von Spee’s fleet overpowered the Royal Navy and in which 1,600 British sailors died.

The multi-purpose offshore construction vessel Seabed Constructor (built 2014) has been involved in a number of high profile underwater searches Photo: Swire Seabed

A month later a British squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral Doveton Sturdee, pursued, engaged and defeated Graf von Spee’s squadron, comprising the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Nurnberg and Leipzig.

The action has been described as “particularly important” because as a consequence of the battle, the German East Asia Squadron, Germany’s only permanent overseas naval formation, effectively ceased to exist, bringing an end to commerce raiding by German warships.

The Scharnhorst, built in Hamburg in 1905, was the first to be sunk, having sustained substantial damage inflicted by HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible.

The moment of discovery was extraordinary. We are often chasing shadows on the seabed, but when the Scharnhorst first appeared in the data flow, there was no doubt that this was one of the German fleet

Mensun Bound

The Falkland Maritime Heritage Trust said it was now seeking to have the site formerly protected in law. The wreck was not touched or in any way disturbed during the operation.

The team on board Seabed Constructor are said to have conducted an act of remembrance at the site, commemorating all who died during the battle.

Donald Lamont , chairman of The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, said: “The search we organised had as its aim the locating of all ships of the German squadron, so that we may learn more about the Battle and commemorate all who perished in it. The site of the wrecks can now be protected.”

Mensun Bound, the leader of the search, said: “The moment of discovery was extraordinary. We are often chasing shadows on the seabed, but when the Scharnhorst first appeared in the data flow, there was no doubt that this was one of the German fleet.

“We sent down an ROV to explore and almost straight away we were into a debris field that said ‘battle’. Suddenly she just came out of the gloom with great guns poking in every direction.”

The MPSV is currently on charter to Ocean Infinity who shot to prominence for the unsuccessful search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370.

They also found the wreck of the Polaris-owned VLOC ore carrier Stellar Daisy (built 1993), which sank in the South Atlantic in March 2017 with the loss of 22 of its 24 crew.