At first, Ropers crew didnt suspect much, but they dutifully pursued the contact. Fearing that they may attempt to man their deck guns, Icarus began delivering heavy machine-gun fire, which resulted in the deaths of several crew aboard the U-boat. Mohr, age 26, was killed when U-124was sunk with all hands on 2 April 1943 west of Oporto, Portugal. Divers approaching the U-352's conning tower. The drumbeat of the U-boats had grown louder through February and March. The U-853 was a type IXC/40 German submarine launched on March 11, 1943, and commissioned June 25 that same year. One survivor managed to escape and was eventually rescued by allied ships. Shortly before Rathke fired his torpedoes, Icarus got a sonar contact. With all the survivors dead, the U-852 sailed away. U-852 was fitted with six 53.3cm (21in) torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and two at the stern), 24 torpedoes, one 10.5cm (4.13in) SK C/32 naval gun, 150 rounds, and a 3.7cm (1.5in) SK C/30 with 2575 rounds as well as two 2cm (0.79in) C/30 anti-aircraft guns with 8100 rounds. At the beginning of May 1945, the Black Point departed Newport News, Virginia, for Weymouth, Massachusetts, with her cargo holds full of coal. The wreck lies on its starboard side with approximately an approximately 80-degree list. The survivors were taken to Charleston, South Carolina, as prisoners of war. The crew of the Roper observed the U-boat sinking at the stern and watched as the crew jumped into the water, begging for rescue. Hans Richard Lenz was released already after 8 months and Wolfgang Schwender condemned to 15 years was released after 6 years in prison. She also carried a 4.1-inch deck gun and two anti-aircraft guns. One survivor managed to escape and was eventually rescued by allied ships. Another man, the sub's machinist mate, had his leg severed and died later that night aboard Icarus. Shortly after midnight, Roper approached the area where U-85 sat and detected a weak radar contact. U-352 was part of Group Schlei and was ordered, along with twelve other U-boats, to converge on an area West of Rockall and to begin looking for convoys. Did they finally blow it up and leave the wreckage behind? His commander-in-training patrol was aboard the famous U-124, commanded by his classmate Johann Mohr, from 28 October 1942 to 21 February 1943. This month well visit the Ashkhabad. They dived the wreck to a depth of approximately 12,500 feet (3,800 m) in the MIR submersible from the Russian research ship Akademik Mstislav Keldysh. It is unclear whether the German U-boat commander received Donitzs order to cease attacks or whether he willfully ignored it. The site is heavily encrusted with coralline algae and supports an array of cnidarians, such as sea anemones and corals. This triggered a hunt for the U-boat, but in a surprising twist, Frmsdorf did not flee the scene. Fifty-eight were captured by the Somaliland Camel Corps and local militia. Roper then quickly left for fear of another boat in the area, but returned after daylight and recovered the bodies of 29 sailors. As it turned out, not all the survivors were killed. He had lived to tell the story which had led to the indictment of the four U-boat officers and a seaman. They then returned to the site and collected 33 survivors, one of which died aboard the Icarus shortly thereafter. The U-853, which had earlier in the war fought off an attack from two British Swordfish torpedo bombers and had recently sunk the American patrol craft the PE-56, was now lurking in Rhode Island Sound. The Black Point likewise serves as a war grave. Amid the sinking wreckage were the survivors jammed packed in lifeboats and rafts. When Greger realized that U-85 was being tracked, he was in very shallow water; therefore, he evidently decided to try escaping on the surface. Read about one of the most interesting events of the U-boat of WWII when Heinz-Wilhelm Eck of U-852 ordered the wreck of the torpedoed merchant Peleus destroyed with machine-gun fire. Command of the U-85 was given to Oberleutnent zur See Eberhard Greger. This year, Scuba Diver Life and NOAA are partnering to profile 12 different ships in the Graveyard of the Atlantic. This commission helps us to maintain and improve the forum for the benefit of our users. And with its 88-mm gun pointed toward the surface, U-85 looks like its still looking for Allied vessels to sink. Rouse, Parke, Jr., "Under the Cloak of Night", U.S. National Register of Historic Places, "2008 Battle of the Atlantic Survey Methodology", "Home Found for "Enigmatic" WW II U-boat Relic", U-85 Memorial Page with Crew members' birth dates and places, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=German_submarine_U-85_(1941)&oldid=1119483562, World War II Shipwrecks along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico MPS, 2,8003,200PS (2,1002,400kW; 2,8003,200bhp) (diesels), 90nmi (170km; 100mi) at 4 knots (7.4km/h; 4.6mph) submerged, Schlagetot (20 October 1 November 1941), This page was last edited on 1 November 2022, at 20:56. U-85 embarked on its third war patrol on January 8, 1942. This month well visit the Caribsea. On 30 April 1944, U-852 was spotted in the Indian Ocean by a Vickers Wellington bomber flying from Aden. U-852 was enroute to the Indian Ocean to join the Monsoon wolf pack operating there. Between their arrival in US territorial waters on December 27, 1941, and February 6th, 1942, the drumbeaters sank 25 ships. U-85 conducted four war patrols with the flotilla, and sank three ships, totalling 15,060gross register tons(GRT). Joined later by the destroyer Ericsson (DD440), the American task force detected, attacked, and destroyed the U-853. After having spent 43 days in the North Atlantic and being occasionally depth charged by planes, the U-85 found little and attacked nothing. To learn more about the proposal, click here. On 30 April 1944, U-852 was spotted in the Indian Ocean by a Vickers Wellington bomber flying from Aden. Greger sunk the ship and then proceeded directly to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Jan. U-85 was fitted with five 53.3cm (21in) torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteen torpedoes, one 8.8cm (3.46in) SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and one 2cm (0.79in) anti-aircraft gun The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.[1]. Abrams. Together, these vessels represent the long battle for naval supremacy during World War II and the attempts by the Allies and the Third Reich to protect and/or disrupt their enemys Atlantic commerce and supply lines. Shown here is the wreck of the Type IXD 2 submarine U-852 off the coast of British Somaliland (Somalia) in May 1944 after being scuttled by her skipper Kapitanleutnant Heinz Eck. Diving U-85is the closest that many of us will come to experiencing what it was like during a World War II naval battle, says NOAA archaeologist Tane Casserley. Eck was to be the only U-boat commander found guilty of war crimes and executed after he ordered the machine gunning of survivors from the Greek ship Peleus. Their suspicions came true when the crew witnessed the track of a torpedo narrowly missing the Roper as it ran down the port side. The U-352 was a German submarine that was used during the notorious U-boat attacks in WWII along the NC Coast. Saling ship Zawisza Czarny and its German WWII engine, The Norwegian Operation and the Torpedo Crisis. U-85 left for its fourth and final patrol on March 21, 1942. This month we visit the U-85. The wreck site of U-85 now rests in about 110 feet (34 m) of water 14 miles (23 km) east of Oregon Inlet along the Outer Banks. The prosecutor was Colonel Halse of the Advocate Generals Office. Today, the submarine lies on the ocean floor almost within sight of the former Newport Torpedo Station which helped develop and test the underwater technology used to destroy it. Unlike U-85 and U-701, U-352 rests south of Cape Hatteras, off Cape Lookout in more stable conditions and more inviting Gulf Stream water for the average diver. The Freden crew drifted in their lifeboats all night. While on it's first patrol, U-85 discovered the massive 65-ship convoy 42 (SC-42), but was only able to sink the British freighter Thistleglen. Significance: U-352 is significant to American military history, maritime history and historic archaeology as it was the first U-boat sunk by the United States Coast Guard off the American East Coast during World War II's Battle of the Atlantic. Hans Lenz, the engineering officer, who had opposed Eck's order but eventually carried it out was given a life sentence (but was released seven years later, in 1952). From January to the end of August 1942, German U-boats attacked more than 285 vessels in North American waters. Image courtesy of Kraken Robotics. The deck gun of U-85 silently points towards the surface as if waiting on a target. The prosecutor was Colonel Halse of the Advocate Generals Office.The presiding judge was Major A. Melford Stevenson. This was the birth of the U-boat as an offensive weapon. The wreck site of U- 85 now rests in about 110 feet (34 m) of water 14 miles (23 km) east of Oregon Inlet along the Outer Banks. U-85 was the third Type VII-B built at Flender Werke in Lbeck and was attached to the Third Flotilla from June 1941 until the time of loss on April 14, 1942. This year, Scuba Diver Life and NOAA are partnering to profile 12 different ships in the Graveyard of the Atlantic. In 1927, Hawaiian Steamship Company sold her again, this time to C.H. U-85 was the first U-boat loss of "Operation Drumbeat" (Paukenschlag), the offensive off the eastern seaboard of the United States in 1942. She docked at St. Nazaire on the French Atlantic coast on 18 September. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Download image (jpg, 377 KB). The following day, Rathke came across Freden again. Image courtesy of Kraken Robotics. (Photo: NOAA), A photomosaic, site plan and dive slate are a few of the products produced for U-85 by Monitor National Marine Sanctuary. Eck was forced to run aground on a coral reef (.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}932N 5059E / 9.533N 50.983E / 9.533; 50.983Coordinates: 932N 5059E / 9.533N 50.983E / 9.533; 50.983) about 20km (12mi) from shore. Roper not only had the advantage of more surface artillery but were also able to reach their guns sooner. Here you can read about the 2 4-man saboteur teams inserted in USA during the summer of 1942, the automatic weather station erected in Labrador in 1943 and the 2 agents landed at Cape Cod in late 1944. They confirmed the pressure hull had been breached and that the bodies of many of the 55 deceased German submariners were still on board the stricken vessel. [3] The U-boat had a total length of 87.58m (287ft 4in), a pressure hull length of 68.50m (224ft 9in), a beam of 7.50m (24ft 7in), a height of 10.20m (33ft 6in), and a draught of 5.35m (17ft 7in). The U-852 was itself sunk on May 3 1944 by British aircraft off the coast of Somalia. Eck and two of his crew were tried and executed after the . Despite frequent disturbance as a popular dive site, the wreck retains archaeological integrity and to this day remains an important and poignant war grave. Hutton. Fearing that the survivors of his torpedo attack would be rescued and give away his presence, Eck ordered for all the survivors to be machine gunned. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 230 metres (750ft). A British boarding party examined the wrecked U-boat and retrieved Eck's Kriegstagebuch ("War Diary"), which proved crucial in constructing the Allied case against him and his men. The U.S. Navy requisitioned the vessel, originally named the Fairmont, in February 1918. Meanwhile, Freden was not sinking and Freden's captain ordered everyone back aboard to resume getting underway. Some of the bodies were wearing civilian clothes, carrying wallets with United States currency and identification cards. The wreck is home to a variety of marine life, including invasive lionfish. Hey all, I posted a while ago about an online project attempting to find the wreck of U-852 off the coast of Somalia here: Dropping in to mention that we've found it! The site rests in approximately 90 feet of water about 14 miles east of Oregon Inlet. Kptlt. U-852 Update. For their actions in sinking U-85, Destroyer Division 54 commander, Commander Stanley C. Norton and the Roper's captain, Lieutenant commander Hamilton W. Howe, were each awarded the Navy Cross.[8][9]. On 13 March while crossing the latitude of Freetown in the Atlantic Ocean, the U-boat spotted the lone Greek steamer Peleus. Hand grenades were also hurled at the remaining lifeboats . Eight of the twelve boats were redirected to the Faroes Islands in Iceland and Scotland. HMT Bedfordshire is one vessel included in the proposal. The remains of this little-known battlefield serve as the final resting place for 90 ships and nearly 1,700 men lost during the Battle of the Atlantic. Aft of the conning tower there is visible battle damage from Roper's 3-inch deck gun. Data Collected on Site: Still and video photography; site plan; high and low resolutions multibeams; 3-D video, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Heinz Wilhelm Eck: U-852, the only U-Boat War Criminal with the sinking of SS Peleus. U-852. There are tidbits of useful info for us in locating the wreck, such as the sand, the ladder to climb the cliffs, the destruction of large bow and stern sections and the (hopefully exaggerated) 200m to the shore line (100m measured on google maps for . Her new owners renamed the ship the Black Point. The boat attempted to run south on the surface and fired its stern torpedo at Roper when the range closed to 700 yards (640m). This year, Scuba Diver Life and NOAA are partnering to profile 12 different ships in the Graveyard of the Atlantic. To view additional site plans click here. When they stopped the ship in order to launch the lifeboats, U-352 passed right by them without notice and somehow lost contact. We cannot be held responsible for any errors on the site and for any actions you may take after viewing its content. In November 1945, Eck and the U-852's four junior officers were tried by the British at a special military tribunal in Hamburg for killing the crew from the Peleus. Although, U-352 encountered no serious damage on its first patrol, no ships were sunk either. She had two shafts and two 1.23m (4ft) propellers. He was keeping with the common practice of navigating in a zig-zag pattern at the time of the submarine attack. On April 13, 1942, U- 85 was sitting in shallow water off Bodie Island lighthouse waiting for targets. Child soldier in the Soviet Union, 1944.. [1], The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 17.9 knots (33.2km/h; 20.6mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 8 knots (15km/h; 9.2mph). (All photos: NOAA), Schools of fish swarm U-85s conning tower with its attack periscope housing still intact. The U-85 is a very rare Type VIIB U-boat, one of only 24 built, and was the only Type VIIB U-boat lost off the U.S. East Coast during the war. Even with the dive briefing fresh in your mind, seeing the U-352 materialize off the bottom, sitting with a 45-degree list to starboard, is an amazing sight. 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