Italy diver claims to have found long-lost UK sub P311

An Italian diver claims to have located the long-lost wreck of the British submarine HMS P311, which was downed off Sardinia during World War II.

Diver Massimo Bondone told the La Nuova Sardegna daily he found the P311 at a depth of 80 meters (262 feet) off the isle of Tavolara during a dive last weekend.

Paola Pegoraro of the Orso diving club, which provided logistics for the dive, told The Associated Press the sub was positively identified by the two Chariot "human torpedoes" affixed to the outside.

The P311 left Malta in December 1942 with 71 crew to take part in Operation Principle, an Allied attack on Italian warships off Sardinia. According to the online resource www.naval-history.net, contact was lost Dec. 31 after the sub apparently hit a mine.