The results of the Rabe/Bemis diving expedition in August 2000 can be summarized as follows:

(1) The divers produced video footage of the wreck of never seen quality which made completely new and far reaching evaluations and conclusions possible. Unfortunately the divers filmed only the bow area, they did not enter the car deck, did not film the stern area nor the surroundings of the wreck.

(2) Due to the fact that the divers could not communicate with the vessel when below water, they could not be guided and therefore wasted their valuable time on unnecessary examinations and even cut off the wrong metal pieces from the starboard front bulkhead.

(3) The divers successfully filmed along the starboard side above the mudline, found the starboard stabiliser which had been believed to have broken off, because this area was completely invisible on the Finnish ROV videos as well as on the diver videos from December 1994.

(4) The divers also found the used welding rods on the seabed below the area of the suspected hole – in other words - the sauna/swimming pool compartment.

(5) The American equipment – the side-scan sonar as well as the ROV – failed more or less completely due to a chaotic organisation onboard (as it appears) and did not produce anything useful except for several hours of good quality video footage from the sea bottom, whereby some bodies* and vehicle tracks** were recorded.

(6) The general condition of the wreck was still relatively good, although the wreck apparently had turned further to starboard and appeared to be sliding down the slope. The sediment cover has reached a thickness that the difference between the blue and white colours can only be recognized at close view.

(7) The examination of one of the two metal pieces cut off by the divers from the starboard – front – bulkhead proved that at least behind this bulkhead an explosion had occurred.

*According to Johan Fransson, Head of Sjöfartsinspectionen, there were said to be no bodies outside the wreck!

**According to Peter Jansson, Finnish consultant to the German Group of Experts, the Russian Navy used to drive with underwater vehicles, which were launched by submarines, over the sea bottom and investigate matters of interest.