BREMER WESTEN

The MV Bremer Westen was a modern German motor vessel built in 1962. For over a decade, it served its owners, the Bruno Bischoff Reederei, plying the trade routes of the Baltic and Northern Europe. In July 1975, the ship was on a routine passage from its home port of Bremen, Germany, to Klaipėda in what was then Soviet Lithuania. It was a standard voyage that the ship and its crew had likely made many times before, but this one would be its last.

While navigating the cold waters of the Baltic Sea near the Danish island of Bornholm, the Bremer Westen ran into fatal trouble. The available records are incomplete, but it is believed the vessel began taking on water or developed a severe and uncorrectable list. Despite the crew's efforts, the ship foundered and sank on July 27, 1975, settling on the dark seabed and becoming another addition to the Baltic's vast underwater museum.

Today, the Bremer Westen is a premier technical wreck dive, resting upright at a challenging depth of 59 meters. The cold, low-salinity water of the Baltic has preserved the ship in remarkable condition, making it appear as if it could set sail at any moment. This dive is strictly for experienced, certified technical divers with the proper training and equipment for deep, cold-water decompression diving. Those who make the descent are rewarded with the sight of a perfectly preserved time capsule from the 1970s.