{"id":70195,"date":"2025-02-05T20:25:16","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T20:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/warship-sunk-by-the-nazis-during-world-war-ii-located-off-the-coast-of-brazil\/"},"modified":"2025-02-05T20:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T20:25:16","slug":"warship-sunk-by-the-nazis-during-world-war-ii-located-off-the-coast-of-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70195","title":{"rendered":"Warship Sunk by the Nazis During World War II Located Off the Coast of Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The\u00a0Vital de Oliveira<\/em>\u00a0was discovered by divers in 2011, but the ship’s identity was not officially confirmed until now.
\n Brazilian Navy<\/span>
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On July 19, 1944, a Nazi submarine torpedoed and sank the Vital de Oliveira<\/em>, a Brazilian ship that transported troops during\u00a0World War II<\/a>. Now, more than\u00a080 years later<\/a>, the Brazilian Navy has confirmed the location of the ship\u2019s final resting place.<\/p>\n

Using sonar imaging techniques, the Brazilian Navy has positively identified the remains of the Vital de Oliveira,<\/em> which is resting on the bottom of the South Atlantic Ocean roughly 40 miles off the coast of Rio De Janeiro.<\/p>\n

The wreckage was first discovered in 2011, but the vessel\u2019s identity was not officially confirmed until last month. On January 16, archaeologists sailing aboard a research vessel used multibeam and side-scan sonar to investigate the site, which allowed them to conclusively identify the wreck as the Vital de Oliveira.<\/em><\/p>\n

Coincidentally, the research vessel they were on is named Vital de Oliveira <\/em>in honor of the shipwreck. Both vessels are named after Frigate Captain Manoel Ant\u00f4nio Vital de Oliveira, a soldier who was killed in combat in 1867 during the Paraguayan War.<\/p>\n

\u201cShipwrecks and other submerged structures are material records of Brazil\u2019s maritime history,\u201d says Caio Cezar Pereira Demilio, a captain-lieutenant with the Brazilian Navy, in a translated\u00a0statement<\/a>. \u201cThese pieces of evidence allow us to understand commercial routes, naval strategies, technological advances and episodes like military clashes and maritime disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Archaeologists with the Brazilian Navy used sonar imaging technologies to confirm the identity of the Vital de Oliveira.<\/em><\/p>\n

Brazilian Navy<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back in 2011, a fisherman off the coast of Brazil reported that his net was stuck on the seafloor. When a pair of divers\u2014brothers Jos\u00e9 Luiz and Everaldo Pompermayer Meriguete\u2014showed up to help the fisherman, they discovered the wreck. They called in a deep-sea diver named Domingos Afonso J\u00f3rio, who revealed that the net was stuck on a cannon. The group alerted the Brazilian Navy of their find.<\/p>\n

Built in 1910 as a civilian ship, the vessel was originally named the Ita\u00faba<\/em>. After joining the Brazilian Navy\u2019s fleet, the ship transported Allied troops and supplies up and down the Brazilian coast during World War II.<\/p>\n

Just before midnight on July 19, 1944, the German submarine U-861 fired a torpedo at the ship, per CNN<\/a>\u2019s Max Saltman. The weapon hit the stern, causing the vessel to sink and killing around 100 of the 270 crew members onboard.<\/p>\n

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The\u00a0Vital de Oliveira<\/em> transported Allied troops and supplies along the coast of Brazil during World War II.<\/p>\n

Brazilian Navy<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Vital de Oliveira<\/em> was the only Brazilian Navy ship taken down by enemy forces during the war, reports the\u00a0Maritime Executive<\/em><\/a>. Two other Brazilian Navy ships also sank, but they were lost due to accidents: The Camaqu\u00e3<\/em> capsized during a 1944 storm, while the Bahia<\/em> detonated its own depth charges during training in 1945.<\/p>\n

In addition, German submarines sank some 34 Brazilian merchant ships during the conflict, reports\u00a0Divernet<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Steve Weinman.<\/p>\n

Brazil and Mexico were the only Latin American countries that sent troops to fight in World War II, per the\u00a0Library of Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Brazil was the only Latin American nation that sent troops to Europe. More than 25,000 men made up the\u00a0Brazilian Expeditionary Force<\/a>, also known as the \u201cSmoking Snakes.\u201d The group played a key role in the Allied victory in the\u00a0Battle of Monte Castello<\/a>, which took place in Italy\u2019s Apennines Mountains in 1944.<\/p>\n

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