Daivings.lv has already reported that the flagship of the free Latvian navy, the ship Chief will remain asleep at the bottom. Meanwhile, a Finnish diver underwater searchThe call of the ship Virsaiša, found during the 19th century, has been highlighted and delivered to Latvia, its finders have received gratitude from the Minister of Defense of Latvia.
Minister of Defense Artis Pabriks thanked his Estonian and Finnish colleagues for finding the ship "Virsaitis".
"This is a very important day, because the bell of our ship" Virsaitis "returns home, in Riga, to the War Museum. There it will help to tell our children the story of the flagship of the Latvian Navy. In addition, this call testifies not only to our past, but also to the future, as well as to our close friendship ties with Estonia and Finland, ”Pabriks emphasized.
In his speech, Estonian Minister of Defense Urmas Reinsalu emphasized the long-term and successful co-operation between Estonia, Latvia and Finland. "I am pleased that today we can return the call of the ship" Virsaitis "to our Latvian friends. This means that this ship will live forever and will never be forgotten. This is also a symbolic moment for the co-operation of the Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian navies, because together we are destroying the mines at sea, which caused the "Chief" to sink during the Second World War, "Reinsalu pointed out.
During World War II, on December 2, 1941, a ship collided with a mine and sank while evacuating Soviet troops from the Hanko Peninsula war base.
The shipwreck was damaged by Finnish divers in 2005, but in 2008 it was also identified by Finnish historians. However, experts from the Latvian War Museum learned about the fact that Latvia's first flagship had been found only in October 2011, when a group of Finnish divers showed interest in the ship's historical significance while preparing a documentary about the evacuation of the Hanko Peninsula.
