Smithsonian Channel Readies Hunt for Eagle 56

Smithsonian Channel is set to reveal the story of the discovery of the “Holy Grail” of missing World War II warships in the new three-part series Hunt for Eagle 56, which is slated for a September release.

The series will bow on the network on Sunday, September 22, at 9 p.m., and will follow the Nomad Exploration Team—a group of New England wreck divers who made discovered the remains of the USS Eagle 56—as they unearth cryptic clues 200 feet below the ocean’s surface off the coast of Maine. The discovery confirmed that the vessel was the last U.S. Navy warship sunk by a German submarine off the U.S. East Coast during WWII.

Hunt for Eagle 56 features interviews with relatives of Eagle 56 sailors and never-before-seen accounts from survivors. Each hour-long episode follows the expedition team of citizen-historians and divers in their search for the warship in challenging underwater terrain. After more than seven decades, the U.S. Navy finally has definitive proof and physical evidence discovered by the divers that Eagle 56 was a tragedy of war and didn’t sink due to a boiler room explosion.

The search team also heads to Germany’s National U-boat Archive on a deep and dangerous dive away from the wreck, where team members discover ground zero, enabling them to conclude a torpedo attack was likely.

Hunt for Eagle 56 is produced by Lone Wolf Media for Smithsonian Networks. Kirk Wolfinger serves as executive producer, and Tim Evans and David Royle serve as executive producers for Smithsonian Channel.

“Through the tireless efforts of a dedicated expedition team, Hunt for Eagle 56 unveils the truth about this tragedy,” said Royle, chief programming officer at Smithsonian Networks. “For decades, divers have been searching for this wreck. Our series will take viewers on a journey of history-changing discoveries that will finally set the record straight on a long-standing wartime mystery.”