Heritage Malta’s Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit has revealed HMS Olympus as the latest addition to its award-winning virtual museum, Underwater Malta, allowing the public to explore one of the Mediterranean’s most significant wartime wrecks from anywhere in the world.

The platform was created to break down the physical and technical barriers that keep Malta’s underwater heritage out of public reach. Using high-resolution imagery captured by specialised divers and transformed into precise 3D models, Underwater Malta makes inaccessible archaeological sites, including deep-water wrecks, available to all.

HMS Olympus, launched 95 years ago, played a crucial role during the height of the Second World War. Its loss remains the deadliest tragedy in Royal Navy submarine history. Positioned strategically in the centre of the Mediterranean, Malta served as a vital Allied base, relying heavily on submarines during the so-called Magic Carpet Service to bring in fuel, ammunition, and supplies through heavily mined waters.

By May 1942, Olympus was not only transporting essential cargo but also carrying crew members from the damaged submarines P36 and P39. In the early hours of 8 May, shortly after leaving Grand Harbour with 98 servicemen on board, the submarine struck a mine. Flooding was immediate and communications were cut. The vessel sank within fifteen minutes. Only nine men survived after a harrowing five-hour swim back to shore.

The wreck was discovered in 2011 during a survey by the University of Malta and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage. Resting upright at 115 metres deep and around 4 km off Grand Harbour, the site still displays unmistakeable details of its final moments, including an open conning-tower hatch and an upward-tilted deck gun. A memorial plaque placed by Heritage Malta in 2017 rests at its base.

Today, thanks to the detailed 3D reconstruction by the Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit, HMS Olympus can finally be explored virtually - an experience once reserved for only the most advanced deep-sea divers.

Have you ever been diving in Malta?