deckhouse

"We were stunned to see that not only was the deckhouse still on her, but it still had all the cabinets with all the dishes stacked in them and all the crew's effects," Baillod told the New York Times.

The boat was almost exactly where its final captain reported its sinking, and settled into the lake in such a way that the bell, anchors, dishes,the deckhouse and crew possessions within were all preserved, as explained in a release Thursday by Mr. Baillod on the Shipwreck World website.

“The first torpedo hit at the midship deckhouse, destroying it and killing most of the deck officers. 60 seconds later the 2nd and 3rd torpedoes hit just aft of the deckhouse and cracked the tanker in two.”

Also, the central placement of the deckhouse, blended with a back end area, might represent a deliberate effort to align the ship’s center of gravity and therefore decrease the possibility of capsizing in rough seas.

The Nanchang has very similar-looking deck-mounted guns and a smooth, flat, roundly curved deckhouse.