Paper short abstract:

The German submarine U-581, sunk in the Azores in 1942, was located at 870m deep. It was found during a research project in 2016 and the aim of this communication is to discuss the naval action between Germany and Great Britain in Portuguese waters, from the neutrality perspective.

Paper long abstract:

Despite the Portuguese neutrality during World War II, the Azorean strategic position was very attractive to several belligerent nations. It was Britain's aim to ensure that this insular waters weren't used by Germany, even if British troops had to occupy the archipelago by force, or invoking the British Luso-Alliance or older alliances to justify it.

In this context, a serious military incident occurred on the 2nd February 1942, which led to the sinking, in front of Pico island, Azores, of the German submarine U-581. In this incident, both contenders clearly violated Portuguese territorial waters, and Portuguese military assets were kept away from the area, although requested by the local authorities.

On the occasion of the75th anniversary of the incident and, at the same time, when the remains of the U-581 were located at 870 meters deep, we intend to discuss the history and the archaeology of the incident, from the Portuguese neutrality perspective. The site himself and all the data related with its sinking, deposition environment or archaeological information's that is available will be crossed with the historical data for a better interpretation of this incident.