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The Hunt for Eagle 56
The Hunt for Eagle 56

The Hunt for Eagle 56

—In "The Hunt for Eagle 56," Smithsonian Channel follows the Nomad Exploration Team as it makes the stunning discovery of the USS Eagle 56 shipwreck off the coast of Maine. The team is made up of citizen-historians and amateur divers who set out to solve a 74-year-old naval mystery. The three-part series features interviews with relatives of Eagle 56 sailors and accounts from survivors. It also provides never-before-seen images of the lost warship lying at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Missing for more than 74 years, the sinking of the World War II warship was long believed to be the result of a boiler room explosion. Now, the team pieces together the evidence to prove that a German U-boat torpedoed the ship in April 1945 just five miles off shore, killing 49 of the 62 crew members on board. The team presents its finding to the U.S. Navy, which, in turn, changes its classification from accidental to combat loss due to enemy action.
1 seasonDocumentary, HistoryTV-PG
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Season 13 of 3 Episodes

  • Civilian investigators find the first clues to help explain why a U.S. Navy ship exploded and sank off the New England coast in 1945.

  • After finding the bow of the Eagle 56 at the bottom of the Atlantic, explorers search for the rest of the warship to uncover why it sank.

  • A team of civilian investigators searches for the last missing clue that will finally explain what sunk the U.S. warship Eagle 56.
The Hunt for Eagle 56

More about The Hunt for Eagle 56

In "The Hunt for Eagle 56," Smithsonian Channel follows the Nomad Exploration Team as it makes the stunning discovery of the USS Eagle 56 shipwreck off the coast of Maine. The team is made up of citizen-historians and amateur divers who set out to solve a 74-year-old naval mystery. The three-part series features interviews with relatives of Eagle 56 sailors and accounts from survivors. It also provides never-before-seen images of the lost warship lying at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Missing for more than 74 years, the sinking of the World War II warship was long believed to be the result of a boiler room explosion. Now, the team pieces together the evidence to prove that a German U-boat torpedoed the ship in April 1945 just five miles off shore, killing 49 of the 62 crew members on board. The team presents its finding to the U.S. Navy, which, in turn, changes its classification from accidental to combat loss due to enemy action.

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