French battleship found in Mediterranean

LONDON, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- A French battleship sunk in 1917 by a German submarine has been discovered at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, officials said.

The BBC reported Thursday that the Danton was sitting uprights and many of its gun turrets are still intact despite sitting in more than 3,200 feet of water.

The Danton, which sank with 296 sailors aboard, was located southwest of the island of Sardinia. The ship was discovered by Fugro GeoConsulting Ltd. during a survey for a gas pipeline between Algeria and Italy.

"Its condition is extraordinary," Rob Hawkins, the firm's project director, said. "After it was hit by the torpedoes, the Danton clearly turned turtle and rotated several times. You can see where it dropped some infrastructure on the way down and then impacted on the seabed."