The twin ship of the famous Swedish warship Vasa was discovered by maritime archaeologists off the coast of the Swedish city of Vaxholm, located 30 kilometers from Stockholm, the Vrak Shipwreck Museum reported on Monday, France Presse reports.

The ship, called the Applet, was built in 1629 by the same shipbuilder that built the Vasa, a year after the iconic Swedish yacht crashed on its maiden voyage, Agerpres notes.

“With the discovery of the Applet, we can put together a central piece of the puzzle of the development of Swedish shipbuilding,” Jim Hansson, one of the archaeologists who coordinated the research, said in a statement.

“The discovery will allow us to understand how warships evolved, from the unstable Vasa to a giant capable of sailing and controlling the Baltic Sea,” he said, adding that the Swedish navy was a crucial factor in establishing the kingdom as great. authorities of the 17th century

The wreckage of a huge ship spotted last year

According to the mentioned museum, the huge wreck was first seen in December 2021 in a strait near the city of Vaxholm.

“The construction and significant dimensions seemed extremely familiar to us. Then we got the hope of finding one of the Vasa-like vessels,” Jim Hansson added.

Although parts of the sides of the ship fell to the bottom of the sea, its hull was preserved up to the lower deck, intended for artillery. Elements detached from the ship’s hull revealed two-level gun support structures.

A more in-depth study of the wreck, carried out in the spring of 2022, revealed details of this ship previously only seen on the famous Vasa.

According to the Vrak Shipwreck Museum, the collected technical details, dimensions and wood samples confirmed that it was indeed “a Vasa doppelganger”.

Maritime archaeologists have also found other warships

In 2019, the same museum announced the discovery of two other warships in the same area.

At the time, archaeologists believed that one of the two ships discovered might have been the Applet, but further research revealed that the vessels were actually two medium-sized warships dating from 1648 and named the Apollo and the Mary, respectively.

The warship Vasa, named after one of the Swedish kings, was originally supposed to be a symbol of Swedish military might.

h: Warship Vasa, the pride of the Swedes

The ship, the pride of the Swedish kingdom that developed in the 17th century, sank on its maiden voyage in the waters off the Swedish capital in 1628 due to manufacturing errors that made it non-alloy. The boat traveled only one kilometer through the water.

It lay at the bottom of the sea for more than three centuries, until a shipwreck enthusiast managed to bring it ashore piece by piece and put it back together like a jigsaw puzzle in the Stockholm Maritime Museum.

The huge warship is 98% preserved in the Vasa Museum in Stockholm.

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