Nazi Submarine Found in Great Lakes-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Divers found a Nazi submarine dating back to World War II in the Great Lakes.
The Truth:
A fake news website is behind the false report that a Nazi submarine has been found in Lake Ontario.
The fake news website, World News Daily Report, made that claim in a report that appeared under the headline, “USA: Mysterious Nazi Submarine From WWII Discovered in Great Lakes” that reports:
Niagara Falls| Divers from the U.S coast guard took part this morning, in a delicate wreck recovery operation to bring to the surface a Nazi submarine discovered two weeks ago at the bottom of Lake Ontario.
The U-boat was spotted for the first time by amateur scuba divers in late January and they had contacted the authorities. Archaeologists associated with Niagara University of and master divers from the U.S Coast Guard were mobilized on site to determine what it was, and they soon realized that they were dealing with a German submarine that sank during World War II.
The story quickly went viral. Within a week of being posted in February 2016, it had been shared more than 58,000 on social media. Taken out of context, many readers believed that the fake news report was actually true. Some of those people even engaged in drawn out debates about whether the submarine should have been brought to the surface. One reader commented:
If it was sunk with crew aboard this is a War Grave and should be left alone!!!!!
Who authorized its disturbance?
As a submariner I find this very disturbing.
But rest assured that a Nazi submarine has not been found in Lake Ontario. World News Daily Report identifies itself as a satirical website that cannot be held responsible for “incomplete information, inaccuracies or typographical errors” in its disclaimer.