WWI Australia submarine wreck found off PNG

SYDNEY - Australia's most enduring military mystery has been solved after the wreckage of the country's first submarine was found more than a century after vanishing off Papua New Guinea's coast, officials said on Thursday.

HMAS AE1, the first of two E Class submarines built for the Royal Australian Navy, vanished on Sept 14, 1914, near the Duke of York Islands with 35 crew members from Australia, Britain and New Zealand on board. It was the first Allied submarine loss in World War I and its disappearance marked Australia's oldest naval mystery.

The submarine was found in more than 300-meter deep waters in the same area after an expedition - the 13th search - was launched last week using Fugro Equator, a search ship also used by Australia to hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.