Baltic Sea Mystery: What Is That Object?

Sonar image of object on floor of Baltic Sea. Credit: Peter Lindberg/OceanExplorer.se
Just what is that thing on the floor of the Baltic Sea? The treasure hunters who found it with side-scan sonar say all they know is that it’s about 200 feet in diameter, and sits in about 275 feet of water between Sweden and Finland.
One reader pointed out that in the 19th century, a Russian naval architect named Andrey Popov experimented with disc-shaped ironclad warships. Two were built: the Novgorod and the Rear Admiral Popov. Popov apparently thought they would they would make stable gun platforms and operate well in shallow water. They were, instead, slow and hard to maneuver. They made their way into a 2007 book by Martin Dougherty, “The World’s Worst Weapons.”
The Novgorod was built in 1873 and scrapped in 1912. Take a look at a contemporary drawing:

A 19th-century artist's conception of the Russian ironclad Novgorod.
Peter Lindberg, one of the organizers of the effort in the Baltic, said they thought about Popov’s ships and decided they were too small.
“The information we have got is that the largest of these odd round ships were approximately 35-37 meters [about 115-120 feet] across,” he said in an email from Stockholm. “The circle is 55-60 meters across. Of course, there might be a possibility that the Russians constructed a larger round ship, which no one knows anything about today. If it is that, well then we have the explanation. I think, though, that it is a bigger chance that the circle being a natural phenomena rather than a Novgorod-ship, just my opinion.”

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Seems awfully funny that all this time and effort is being applied to discerning the origin of the “object” is at the bottom of the Baltic sea is, when even to the layperson, the image is quite clear. Apparently the Millennium Falcon crash landed…..
Posted by: Brad Thompson | February 1, 2012, 12:16 pm 12:16 pm
Come on, lets go with the simplest, most obvious answer. . . . It is a crashed UFO with dozens of dead bodies aboard. Once we raise the ship, we will discover technology beyond our dreams and that we can use to end world hunger, environment problems, and cure all disease. On the other hand, it could be a big rock.
Posted by: Jim | February 1, 2012, 2:03 pm 2:03 pm
I’m worried that it might be the plug for the bottom of the sea… I’m afraid that when they attempt to pull it up, the whole ocean will drain!
Posted by: Skip | February 1, 2012, 2:09 pm 2:09 pm
I wish I could be part of this deep inquiry. (literally) As our technology advances we will be learning much more than we imagined regarding our past. The past. That part of the past, which is our future.
Posted by: Brad Blinstrub | February 1, 2012, 2:15 pm 2:15 pm
@ Skip.. Thanks for the laugh. I died when i read it..LOL
Posted by: Pam | February 1, 2012, 2:45 pm 2:45 pm
Where are the chunks that broke off the disk? They should be visible somewhere too (that is, if it originally was a disk). Also, nobody seems to be noticing that the disk is NOT circular. It’s an oval that’s 107×99 in ratio — unless the thing is being seen from perspective. If that’s being seen in, then that would be a 23 degree slant, tilted sideways with respect to the “trail” behind it.
Posted by: Mark | February 1, 2012, 3:34 pm 3:34 pm
It looks like a new species of marine life- part duck.
Posted by: sifufor | February 1, 2012, 3:36 pm 3:36 pm
Possible left over underwater radar unit for detecting submarines.
Posted by: mike | February 1, 2012, 3:44 pm 3:44 pm
Apparently Pac-Man can’t swim!
Posted by: Brooke | February 1, 2012, 4:39 pm 4:39 pm
During the Cold War the Soviets used special submarines that crawled on the seabed to spy on Sweden. At one point the Swedes trapped one of them, but then let it go, in order not to create too much of an international incident. The shallowness of the Baltic made this bottom-crawling possible. Given the sloppy nature of Soviet worksmanship, this could be a lost Soviet sub.
Posted by: Laurent | February 1, 2012, 5:25 pm 5:25 pm
What the hell is an aluminum falcon?
Posted by: MJ | February 1, 2012, 5:26 pm 5:26 pm
It’s a broken part of a large meteorite. Remember that.
Posted by: Paco Fernandez | February 1, 2012, 5:34 pm 5:34 pm
apparently Han didnt install that thermo-coupler properly and it is his fault
Posted by: jelzdad | February 1, 2012, 5:44 pm 5:44 pm
I saved the picture and blew it up before severe pixilation occured. Has some funny circular patterns to left of it which appears to be a brain coral but at the cold of ocean tempature I doubt coral would survive, so it is probably some sort of rock formation. Also, it appears that it rises some 15-20 feet above the ocean floor. My guess it is a small magna chamber that broke through sea bed, and then sealed itself when the water came in contact hardening the lava. Perhaps the magna chamber formed as a result of another asteriod impacting the earth within the last 100,000 yrs. I doubt this ocean feature would still be around if this is the result of the asteroid that impacted the Yucatan Peninsula 65 million years ago that erradicated the dinosaurs..
Posted by: eric | February 1, 2012, 5:49 pm 5:49 pm
The problem with the volcanic theory is that there has been no known volcanic activity in that part of the world for several million years. From Wiki: ” The Baltic Sea somewhat resembles a riverbed, with two tributaries, the Gulf of Finland and Gulf of Bothnia. Geological surveys show that before the Pleistocene instead of the Baltic Sea, there was a wide plain around a big river called the Eridanos. Several glaciation episodes during the Pleistocene scooped out the river bed into the sea basin. By the time of the last, or Eemian Stage (MIS 5e), the Eemian sea was in place. Instead of a true sea, the Baltic can even today also be understood as the common estuary of all rivers flowing into it.
From that time the waters underwent a geologic history summarized under the names listed below. Many of the stages are named after marine animals (e.g. the Littorina mollusk) that are clear markers of changing water temperatures and salinity.
The factors that determined the sea’s characteristics were the submergence or emergence of the region due to the weight of ice and subsequent isostatic readjustment, and the connecting channels it found to the North Sea-Atlantic, either through the straits of Denmark or at what are now the large lakes of Sweden, and the White Sea-Arctic Sea.”
Posted by: Curiousgeorge | February 1, 2012, 6:37 pm 6:37 pm
The rock-like illusion is the result of the scan lines: It’s side-scan sonar, folks. The object is clearly ROUND, which implies, at the very least, worked stone. At most, it’s a flying disc, either of Nazi manufacture or extraterrestrial.
Posted by: Sgt. Winkhorst | February 1, 2012, 6:46 pm 6:46 pm
I’m with Skip, it is the plug that keeps water in the sea!!
Posted by: Paul | February 1, 2012, 8:56 pm 8:56 pm
I know what it is, it’s a transformer….don’t mess with him
Posted by: John | February 1, 2012, 9:00 pm 9:00 pm
Concrete barges have been made in various shapes for almost a century. The US Navy had some made almost this size and shape during World War 2 for use in the Pacific. Several were “lost” in storms and could have been recovered and towed to this location. Building barges from concrete in any shape/size is not difficult. Steam powered ships could tow/push them as early as the 1800′s.
Posted by: RetLaEnvEmp | February 1, 2012, 9:32 pm 9:32 pm
When the truth is finally revealed about things we do not fully understand yet and the fact that some govs and agencys do know but cannot disclose information.For if they did people would not understand the true nature of universe or its indeniable evidence of life from the solar system to earth.WE are not alone and never have been.The evidence is there,you just have to except it and move on.
Posted by: henry | February 1, 2012, 10:29 pm 10:29 pm
Henry or Skip are correct, Or maybe Anunaki left over….
Posted by: Orion | February 1, 2012, 10:53 pm 10:53 pm
In the highly-unlikely (but possible) chance that this is “other-worldly,” I can promise that you will never know it. If such an object were to be discovered, the government would “protect” us by fabricating a story. Admittedly, most people would probably not be convinced that this is object is swamp gas or flares, but you can bet that the crappier the story, the more likely they found something beyond imagination.
Posted by: Paula D. | February 1, 2012, 11:21 pm 11:21 pm
I sincerely hope that those who discovered this object are able to keep it’s location a secret…
If it is a extraterrestrial alien craft the nearby governments will locate this object and that will be the last we see or hear about it…
Posted by: Rod Severson | February 2, 2012, 1:54 am 1:54 am
First of all, I would like to thank Curious George for such a great lecture on greographical history. So exciting!!! But actually the way stories come up like this tells you from the get-go that it’s a money maker for someone. (Geraldo Rivera anyone?) So before you start counting alien bodies you had better look at the source clearer. This is obviously something known to someone and is really probably just an anomoly or one of the many formentioned sea wrecks mentioned earlier. If they truly had no idea what it was there would be more of an internal effort to dive down with a sub or just send a camera down before lobbying media entities for money.
Posted by: Zyborg Blyjstadt | February 2, 2012, 2:23 am 2:23 am
Definitely looks like a Novgorod. If one did sink it would most likely flip over with the top-heavy side down so the video might be of the bottom of the craft. Yeah….I’ll go with the Novgorod. Don’t mean to be a skeptic, but what would the chances be for another lifeform to develop in another solar system with the same mental capacities as humans on earth? I mean, intellectually, we “evolved” to where we are scientifically. from pretty much the discovery of fire. Would another lifeform reach the same place technologically as we have? If so, how could anyone deny the existence of a creative God? It would just be way too coincidental. My point is, giraffes and paramecium don’t pursue space travel. Why would another lifeform? What would be there motivation? But I digress.
Posted by: Charly | February 2, 2012, 6:53 am 6:53 am
Don’t pull that plug!
Posted by: Joe | February 2, 2012, 8:04 am 8:04 am
I am thinking it is what one other person said it is an Alien ship. But here is my twist. I think we may not want want to uncover the truth with this. There may have been abducted humans on that ship being anal probed like Cartman on South Park. We may find out all those people that have been abducted by aliens really have. We may also find out what came first from this the Chicken or the Egg? Good gosh who knows what they may find down there now I am scared. lol
Posted by: kjm | February 2, 2012, 11:38 am 11:38 am
The Navy has metal detectors that can tell us if it’s a ship or submarine or any other kind of metal object. I’m sure submarine hunter aircraft have flown over that spot with metal detectors hundreds of times over the years… I’m just saying
Posted by: Scott | February 2, 2012, 12:29 pm 12:29 pm
It’s the Russian yacht Livadia flipped over. The first one that sank during testing.
Posted by: Bob Buford | February 2, 2012, 1:16 pm 1:16 pm
If it is an extraterrestrial alien craft, We can all forget we saw it! The government will not allow it to be seen!
Posted by: michael | February 2, 2012, 1:17 pm 1:17 pm
@ Zyborg Blyjstadt.. Really?? Humans are all that?? We need to get over ourselves..
Posted by: rolandofgilead | February 2, 2012, 1:26 pm 1:26 pm
Aliens do not leave any clues to their being hear on earth…period…
My guess, this is a optical illusion, or just chunk dropped by a vessel getting rid
of chunk…period
Posted by: Bill M. | February 2, 2012, 2:18 pm 2:18 pm
Has nobody notice that over time the object got much bigger? In his original interview in July Peter Lindberg clearly stated it was 18 meters in diameter. Now it is 200 feet in diameter and growing. At this rate it will be a mile in diameter by summer.
P.S. At 18 meters in diameter, and given its oft noted resemblance to the Millenium Falcon, the most boring explanation is that it is a main turret off of one of the dozens and dozens of capital ships sunk over two world wars.
Posted by: Mark A. Sadowski | February 2, 2012, 4:16 pm 4:16 pm
With all due respect to the baffled Swedes and news outlets hoping for mass click thru’s why haven’t you asked if anyone has offered the simple explanation that what was imaged was the end product of WW2 munitions and subsequent drag marks caused by fishing boat anchors or fishing nets. The water above the “site” is only 80 meters deep. Allied and Axis aircraft in WW2 routinely bombed submarines, patrol boats and also dropped hung munitions that failed to drop over Europe. Such bombs could easily have sunk to 80 meters and then exploded causing the compressed soil or witness mark on the sea bed. The gas pressure bubble that forms around a depth charge (or charges) from a anti submarine patrol boat could easily have compressed and densified the sand thus causing the sonar return shown by the Swedes. As for the so-called notches or tails these could easily be caused by dragged anchor in the interim 60+ years since the Baltic region’s experience in WW2. Come on folks, put on the skeptics hat and if all else fails send a technical mixed gas diver (Helium -oxygen mix) down the 80 meters for a few samples or better yet throw a camera in a housing over the side with some fiber optics to bring live images to the surface. ‘Nuff said.”
Posted by: David F Pawlowski | February 2, 2012, 7:46 pm 7:46 pm
It is almost certainly the top of an exposed laccolith. A laccolith is essentially old magma that has risen up through the layers of crustal rocks and then frozen. Later, erosion exposes these kinds of formation and you have basaltic prominences or mounds.
Posted by: Billy Greenacre | February 2, 2012, 9:42 pm 9:42 pm
Nazi Gold!!!!
…or secret Soviet sub.
Posted by: Gerald | February 3, 2012, 4:28 pm 4:28 pm
How about the mythological giant quern stones (mill stones) of King Fróði of Gotland. According to legend they sank into the sea leaving giant whirlpools. According to CNN, the explorers found a second circular object 200 meters away from the first which would fit the myth.
While much of the myth is simply that, it could be possible that there were two large circular stone megaliths that stood as some monuments. If the topography was right, it is reasonable to imagine that such megaliths could be carved from a cliff and even rolled along a track (very slowly and carefully) carved into the bedrock to a final position near the sea.
An invading army (as in the myth) may have decided to get rid of these monuments and roll them into the sea. Given the mass of these objects they could have rolled a considerable distance before tilting onto their side and continue to slide across the sea floor.
Posted by: Joe in Kirkland | February 4, 2012, 6:54 pm 6:54 pm
I think this picture is an image of a giant horseshoe crab, quite possibly related to Godzilla. This crab is clearly a mutant variant caused by underwater Soviet nuclear weapon tests back in the 50s and 60s.
Posted by: brian mcgillicuty | February 6, 2012, 7:50 pm 7:50 pm