NASA, US call for return of mysterious device from Adriatic

The electronic device had no clear marks and identities of ship belonging, institutes, or state.

The crew of the fishing ship Marian II, up to 140m deep, drew something that had torn their nets apart.

“We've been fishing all winter here and we've never caught anything like this”, says Darko Kunac Bigava from Podgorica, explaining that this device had never been in the sea for a long time, Kosovo Press broadcasts.

This box has no marks, it's orange, it's about 130cm in diameter, it's about 100 kilos heavy, and it's got a 40-inch diameter, so none of us can remove it”, he adds.

Only two inscriptions were seen in the orange box: “TC-2” and “DHL” followed by small letters “D H LHR ZAG RJK”.

It wasn't long before the photos were posted on social networks, and fishermen developed the theory that the device was left at sea by Americans or left behind.

According to Croatian media, a specialised oceanographic ship owned by the American Navy was recently built at Victor Lenac shipyard in Rijeka. She was doing some unusual maneuvers not far from Mljet.

The American warship coach corresponds to the location of the device found, there is no rust on metal parts, and it seems that it has recently been lost at sea, the DHL delivery service labels confirm the distribution from Zagreb to Rijeka on November 20, 2019.

It really looks like a meter instrument. At first glance, part of the device looks like a sonar or acoustic. It could also be used for underwater communications, if this is military”, a former Croatian coast guard employee said.

That the measurements theory is correct was confirmed this morning.

The fisherman who found the device said he was contacted by Croatian officials who had asked him to return the device, but that he did not intend to do so until the damage caused by the destruction of the net in which he found the device.

Meanwhile, Portal Morski finds out it's about a NASA device. Still, it is not clear what the device was doing there.

However, the device returned to the U ship's crew SNS Bruce Heesan, the Croatian Defence Ministry responded to explain what the American ship was doing here.

“In accordance with the law, the Department of Defence, in addition to other competent authorities, has given preliminary approval to the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Department to conduct testing activities of marine equipment and research equipment at Navy Bruce C. Helen. Final approval for the implementation of activities, given the prior approvals, was granted by the Ministry of Sea, Transport and Infrastructure. In the implementation of the Marine Code, implementation of the activity in question on an American ship was monitored by two Croatian Navy officers” the Croatian Defence Ministry announced.