I'm sympathetic to the salvagers but until new law is agreed upon or established over this which most courts agree to, it will remain tough regarding warships unless that nation has ceased to exist or has repudiated that link to that era or entered a treaty making such claims null and void.
It gets really vexing....I wonder if modern Germany claims Nazi warships or even East German warships?
Could the Russians claim Soviet ships and so forth.
I have a feeling given the new technology at hand and the increased feasibility in such finds that we will see new law agreed upon at some conference in Holland that we will sign on to.
Just a guess.
I have a feeling given the new technology at hand and the increased feasibility in such finds that we will see new law agreed upon at some conference in Holland that we will sign on to.
I think the United States of America are the most interested in the law keep being so, in order to avoid the secrets concealed in their sunk ships, such as the
USS Scorpìon, not far from Spain, by the way, to be revealed.
Otherwise a private company could recover, for instance, the aft section, and sold the secrets of how it was constructed the reactor and propulsion system to, say, the Indians or Chinese or other emerging power. You can imagine what would it happen to the forward section, the sonar and the Mk 48 torpedoes...
Therefore, a military ship remains national territory even if it lays underwater.