The wreckage of Latvian military flagship was found

In the Gulf of Finland, near Hanka, the pre-war Latvian Navy flagship Virsaitis was found. This ship’s fate has the similarities with the only pre-war Lithuanian military ship President Smetona. By the way, Virsaitis was a smaller ship than President Smetona. The similarity is that both of these ships were sunk during the war in the Gulf of Finland and were discovered these days.

Latvian Navy flagship Virsaitis was confiscated in 1940 under the Soviets and was used to evacuate military base from Finland. Ship drowned in 1941. There are two reasons for this: one is that the ship ran over a mine and another claim that it was shot by the Finnish.

Upon the discovery of the ship, the country’s Defense Ministry sent a group of divers, who are going to explore the wreckage.

Virsaitis was built as 525 tons trawler in 1890, which had a crew of 7 officers and 60 sailors.

In 1938, Latvia had two navy submarines Ronis and Spidola, two torpedo boats Imanta and Viesturs, trawler Virsaitis and icebreaker Krisjans Voldemars. Before the war, 25 officers and 200 sailors served for Latvian military marine fleet. Military schools in Riga and Liepaja were preparing sailors. They practiced on the training ship Jurnieks.