The Polish navy says it is almost certain that it has located the wreck of Nazi Germany's only aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin.

A Polish firm searching for oil first detected the wreck in the Baltic Sea, 55km (34 miles) offshore.

The ship's whereabouts had been a mystery since the end of World War II.

The navy investigated and said it was 99% certain that the wreck was the Graf Zeppelin. The ship, built in 1938, never saw action in the war.

The navy said it was unlikely that the 250-metre (820-foot) wreck would be recovered from the seabed, as it was at a depth of more than 80 metres (264 feet).

"Technically it's impossible to pull it out of the water," a spokesman for the Polish navy, Lieutenant Commander Bartosz Zajda told the Associated Press news agency.

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