The Discovery and Documentation of Australia’s First Submarine: HMAS AE1

On 20 December 2017, a collaborative team comprising researchers and specialists from the Silentworld Foundation (SWF), Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM), Find AE1 Ltd., the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Fugro N.V. identified the final resting place of HMAS AE1 off the Duke of York Islands in Papua New Guinea. The discovery of Australia’s first submarine was the culmination of more than a century of efforts to solve the riddle of its disappearance in September 1914, and learn the fate of its crew of 35. Information gleaned from the 2017 survey, as well as a follow-up ROV examination in April 2018, promises to reveal the cause of AE1’s loss, and bring closure to Australia’s oldest naval mystery.