A sonar target may have the correct dimensions. A wreck may lie close to a reported sinking position. Historical records may point toward the same location.
But when is the evidence sufficient to say:
“This is the ship”?
Should confirmation require identifiable structural features? ROV imagery? Artifacts? Archival evidence? Multiple independent forms of evidence? Formal archaeological investigation?
And should the standard be different when the wreck is also a war grave?
There may not be one simple answer.
Researchers, divers, sonar specialists, maritime archaeologists and historians—what standard would you use?