News reports this week including this version from the Washington Post detail the locating in August of the sunken WWII German submarine U-576 about 30 miles off Cape Hatteras, NC.

Sunken World War II German U-boat and freighter found off coast of Cape Hatteras - The Washington Post

While the sinking of the U-boat by depth charges from two American Kingfisher aircraft and deck-gun action from the armed merchantman Unicoi in 1942 was well documented, the final resting place of the sub had been unknown. She was found in about 700 feet of water, lying on her side, less than 300 yards from the last vessel she sank, the Nicaraguan-flagged merchant vessel Bluefields.

According to Wikipedia, the search for the U-576 by NOAA was documented in the 2013 National Geographic series Hitler's Secret Attack on America. The find this summer by NOAA was part of the continuation of that search.

The general area of the wreck off Cape Hatteras was known as "Torpedo Junction" at that time in the war, when an average of one ship per day was being sunk by German submarines while we were developing ASW strategy to deal with them. U-576 was one of several submarines participating in the Kriegsmarine's Operation Drumbeat at the time.

There are no plans to raise the vessel, which is the gravesite of 43 crew members and their captain and is considered off-limits to salvage.

The 576 had been credited with five kills during the same number of patrols off the East Coast, including one in which it provided some provisions to surviving crewmembers in a lifeboat.

I'm not sure whether the specific coordinates of the 576 wreck have been or will ever be released, but I'm sure there are probably some Outer Banks charter captains who either have fished over these two wrecks, or will be doing so in the future. Wrecks such as these are prime spots for offshore fishing trips from North Carolina ports, attracting fish from what usually is a mostly featureless bottom nearby.

I've fished over some of these myself, including the wreck of the tanker W.E. Hutton off Morehead City, NC that could always be identified by a slight oil sheen on the surface from the tanker's cargo, still leaking more than 60 years after the war. Another U-boat, the 352, was sunk in the same general area by the Coast Guard Cutter Icarus, and still is a sportfishing and diving destination. (Most of her crew, including her captain, survived and were rescued and spent the remainder of the war as prisoners.)

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

My Great Uncle Ray was with Patton's army in Europe. When he came home he married a gal from Pompano Beach, FL and they stayed there. When we visited them in the '60s she told us about a U-boat that was sunk off their beaches. When soe bodies floated ashore she said some of them had movie theater tickets from town in their pockets. I later heard that stories such as this are untrue but who knows? I choose to believe it.

Thank you for this informative post. It was a bad time; few realize how bad. Thousands (yes, thousands) of ships went down. My dad, a Merchant Marine Officer, was never sunk despite many North Atlantic convoy runs, North Africa, and the invasions of Sicily, Salerno and Anzio. Forgot the Russian convoy: 3 pairs of gloves.

His friend was torpedoed and sunk 5 times, including twice out of Boston in 2 weeks. Mom lost her fiance to a torpedo in November 1942, the Zaandam. Dad kept a small hardcover book for many years as a memento. The title? How To Abandon Ship. I kid you not.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

How did the subs manage to have fuel for the journey to the area, as well as the other provision that have to be replenished ?

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wanna do right-- not right now

They were replenished by subs especially equipped for that purpose, also there were surface ships for resupply as well as tenders for repair. At the start of the war our response to sub warfare was bumbling, ill planned and ill practiced. The Germans had a field day.

Some of the subs also were diesel-electric propelled, and at safe times could cruise on the surface to recharge their batteries. Patrol times, as I understand it, ran about a month before the subs would return to Germany and replenish and rest their crews.

The 576 had been damaged in a previous attack by aircraft, and her main ballast tank was damaged. As a result, when attacked on her last day, she was unable to submerge to safe depth and, instead, came to the surface where she was easy prey.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

I spent a week diving off the coast of NC, including a dive on the U-352. The water out there is surprisingly clear; although it is deep diving, many of the wrecks are very accessible.

Thanks for posting this interesting story.

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Take your time, fast. J.Hughes

Many German sub officers who operated off our coast commented that early in the war our vessels were nicely silhouetted against the lights on shore. They were amazed by this carelessness.

A neighbor of mine served on a USN tanker that regularly ran Torpedo Junction unescorted. His ship was never sunk, but vessels close by were a number of times. Those tankers were large floating bombs when carrying aviation fuel--a torpedo would trigger a conflagration that few of the crew would survive.

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Oh well, what the hell.

There is a U-Boat at a museum in South Chicago.
Worth seeing if you are in Chicago.

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

RIP all who lie there.

German U-boats had "long legs." Diesel powered on the surface, they had great range with a top surface speed of some 17-18 knots. After the Germans overran France in 1940, they had several excellent harbors to base their subs.

Both Type VII and Type IX boats were much smaller than US boats and conditions on board grew worse as the patrol progressed. Fresh food was of course consumed first. One toilet for 40+ crewmen and no showers: the smell was appalling.

Replenishment generally took place for those boats operating in the South Atlantic or further out in the Indian Ocean. Supply subs called "milk cows" could replenish torpedoes and fuel until they also fell prey to Allied counter measures. From my readings, subs working the N. Atlantic convoy routes generally were not replenished. They were closer to French bases, patrols were shorter, and there were too many of them operating at one time for milk cows to service safely. Also, normal conditions on the N. Atlantic are horrible most of the year: gales of hurricane strength are common and would strike without warning. Allied aircraft patrols became more extensive and made it nearly impossible to surface or operate in the daylight. Dad's convoys were only attacked at night.

Thank you to all who liked my above post. Mom was devastated when the Zaandam went down. It was a bad war for my family.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

Found this online about the Zaandam and the amazing journey of a liferaft with some of her survivors on board.

25)ZAANDAM - A/Z (25 Pages / 53 Images) - DUTCH SHIPS SUNK - Articles - Sixtant - War II in the South Atlantic

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

As a child during WWII in Florida I heard many stories about German Subs off the coast. Later in life I read an article stating there were no German Subs sunk off the Florida Coast during WWII ?

My Grandfather was a bus driver in the Fort Lauterdale area during that time. When I was little he use to tell me stories, about picking up merchant marines that managed to swim ashore after their ships were torpedoed. He said that they usually "wanted to just go to the bar" reguardless of how badly they were burned. He also told me of occasionally watching the ships burn and sink. One of the few fond memories I have of him.
I did a four year tour in the navy on a nuclear submarine. I never had it as rough as those guys, but I do feel a special kind of respect for them.

Read Iron Coffins by Herbert Werner. He was one of the few surviving U-boat captains. He wrote about entering Chesapeake Bay submerged and going through the Straights of Gibraltar while being hunted by the RN.

They had huge supply subs that the Kriegsmariners called: "Fat Cows."

That would be U-505. I was friends with Hans Goebeler--whotried ulling the plug: on it and was the last ma off the boat. He used to live here but in the late90s--moved to Florida..

I believe there were only eight milch cows which became primary targets, especially after Enigma was broken and mid-ocean redesvous' could be staked out.

Im not sure how many they had but--yep--they became prime targets.

I was wrong, there were 10: German Type XIV submarine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Another sub museum is in Cleveland .. the USS Cod .. and they are putting new engines in it! .. that is a must see if you're ever in Cleveland. Last time I checked their webpage they refurbished the targeting computer .. which in itself was an amazing feat given the age of this war machine. Absolutely fascinating .. the Cod is next to the Cleveland "rock & roll" museum .. personally, I'd rather go to Cleveland to see the sub .. you can even play with the desk cannon .. which has some serious lands and grooves ... well preserved

I would pull your leg about this but I'm not a sensitive to typos as some on this forum.

Speaking ofAmi subs--Did the SS Bowfin make it through the war unscathed?

Apparently, it is in a park in Honolulu:

USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park

Was this U576 the one the deck gunners said they shot a submarine yet there was no proof and no one believed them till the sub was found with a deck gun round hole in the conning tower?

My congrats to the deck gun guys, great shooting.

Bill, I haven't seen that described in any of the stories and research I've done -- not to say it isn't true, but I just haven't seen it. Apparently, though, the deck gunners on the Unicoi were johnny-on-the-spot when 576 surfaced, and they scored a direct hit followed soon thereafter by depth charges from the Kingfishers (which were part of the convoy's security) that sent the 576 to the bottom.

There is a great sonar image in full color that has been part of some of this reporting, showing the 576 resting on her starboard side, with deck gun and conning tower and part of the hull of the sub fully visible. I'll try to copy and post here.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

I think what you are referring to is the recently discovered Jap sub that was reportedly shot by the Navy Reserve training ship USS Ward at Pearl Harbor on the morning of Dec 7, 1941. Nobody believe the report of the shooting at the time. The sunken sub was found about 15 years ago exactly where the contact was reported. One hole thru the conning tower, IIMC.

I've toured U-505 (German sub at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago) and also the USS "Drum" in Mobile and there is no doubt as to which boat I woulda wanted to be in.

You can't walk around the German boat with your head up-right unless you are less than 5 feet tall.

The American sub had plenty of headroom and lots better living conditions for those onboard.

The USS Silversides sub museum in Muskegon Michigan will allow guests to spend the night onboard overnight for an additional fee.

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AKA: "Strange Tamer"

What a coincidence. I just returned from a wedding in Little Rock, AR and while there I toured the US WWII submarine Razorback, which was quite interesting. The conditions were incredibly tight so if the German subs were worse, I feel sorry for them. The tour guide showed us the decals of all the Sub's kills and there were a couple of destroyers, several merchant ships, and two other submarines. I always wondered how a WWII sub could kill another sub with a torpedo when there was no guided torpedoes or homing system? Would it have to be a surface broadside shot?

I highly recommend the movie "Das Boot". Chronicles the life aboard a U-boat during a mission. It's best to watch it in German with subtitles since all the actors are speaking German. They used actual U-boat commanders/crewman as technical advisers for the movie. Although it was released in 1981, it's as about as real as it gets.

Das Boot is one of those war movies that is done so well you can smell it.

It also has perhaps the most depressing ending of any flick I have ever seen. But it's an immensely powerful movie.

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Oh well, what the hell.

There is a story that I believe was well documented that a Uboat was sunk and Claussen's bread wrappers were found in the flotsam. A story was pieced together that 2 guys came ashore and bought bread at a store south of Charleston. Witnesses remembered seeing two strange men buying bread.

This 1964 ad was one of the first appearances of the 'Muppets':

claussens bread 01 - YouTube

Interestingly enough, Claussen was a German Immigrant who started bakeries in the1800s.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I blame Admiral King. He should have had an ASW strategy planned before the U-boats attacked the east coast. I consider it his worse blunder.

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Have Gun Will Carry

Das Boot was actually filmed on U-boats (OK, they also had full size cut away sets for many scenes), including the scenes of running on the surface during a storm. Those scenes weren't shot in bath tubs with models. My late father-in-law showed me the u-boat watch towers on the Delaware beaches. He said that one summer, you could always see at least one burning ship at night.

In answer to the question about sinking subs.... WWII diesel electric boats were surface ships that could operate submerged for varying periods of time. Time depended upon the age and charge state of the batteries as well as oxygen. Most u-boat attacks were night attacks while surfaced, US subs also did so quite a bit. You could probably generalize and state that night surface attacks were the preferred attack scenario of most sub commanders. That's also the time they'd be charging batteries.

Edwin L. Beach did a trio of books on sub operations in the Pacific. The best known was Run Silent, Run Deep. They're all worth the read-although they'll spoil many sub movies for you. Launching torpedo attacks involved a lot of observations and calculations by the Target Data Computer. He served on subs in the Pacific and later commanded Triton.

100% correct in the case of the U-boat fleet. As the allied navies fitted more ships with radar, this type of attack became increasingly dodgy.

[ I always wondered how a WWII sub could kill another sub with a torpedo when there was no guided torpedoes or homing system? Would it have to be a surface broadside shot?[/QUOTE]

Torpedo Data Computer

Go to uboat.net for a very interesting forum on WWII uboat activities.

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Witzell
"The dude abides".

It was on the history channel. No one believed the gunners shot it and sunk it. The gunners swore they shot a jap sub. Great story with an awesome ending. They did shoot and hit it.

I just read where the only submarine sunk by torpedo from another submarine during WWII was by the British HMS Venturer. A German U-boat was carrying parts and plans for V2 rockets to Japan and allied code breakers intercepted the message and sent the Venturer sub to destroy the Kraut U-boat. The enemy sub was located by the British sub's hydrophone and the captain issued an order to blindly fire four torpedoes set to various depths and at various intervals. The first three torpedo's missed but the fourth scored a direct hit, and it's a good thing for us, we sure didn't need the Japs to have a bunch of V-2 rockets.

Actually--the type IIV-C (the most classic looking uboat) had plenty room. The only one that still exists (above the waves) is u-505--on Laboe beach. Im 5'10 and walked through it without banging head. also--types like the Wilhelm Bauer--had plenty of room too. I toured both while I was in Deutschland.

If the Germans waited to start the war by 1945 they would of been better equipped. With the help of the alien technology as one of the jet engine and rocket gurus admitted they did have help with the development of new technology. The bell is living proof of that.

If the whole world would calm down and focus on the development to make the world a better place and not focus on killing each other where would we be today. Where are the Edison's and Teslas of today. I think we could do much better.

In today's times I feel the crusades never ended. It seems like when one fire is put out another one flares up.

I enjoy the WW2 history too. In my last life I died on a B17. I get all choked up when I hear those engines flying over head. I don't even have to look to know what it is. I see that P51 mustang and that four engine bomber tour the country every year. I caught sight of them once while flying overhead in an open field from the saddle on my motorcycle. It was a tear jerker for sure. I have some sort of a connection to the ww2 bomber.

WE toured the USS Silversides in Muskegon, Michigan a couple years ago and was impressed with how tight the quarters were on her. They even had berths among the torpedoes for the sailors to sleep on.
My buddy was a WWII Naval dive bomber pilot doing convoy escort duty on baby flat tops. He said a sub was high on their list during patrols but never did see any.

My father was a passenger on a ship torpedoed by U82.

On September the 12th 1918 Galway Castle was attacked by U82 160 miles south-west of Fastnet Rock, she sank three days later.

150 lives were lost, many unnecessarily during the evacuation of the ship, which although suffering a broken back, remained afloat for another three days.

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Back to back World War Champs.

U505 is an IXC and is in Chicago, and U995 is. Type VIIC and is in Laboe Germany. Both great must-see museums!

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Witzell
"The dude abides".

I went to sea on the USS Sea Cat SS399 built in 1943! You would be surprised how big that boat was after a week at sea. We were outfitted for the blockade during the Cuban Crisis. MY bunk was the bottom one and I needed to lie down on the cardboard cases of food and roll down to get into my bunk! My next assignment was an FBM nuc powered boat for 64 days of out and under! I can't imagine how those true submariners made a war patrol in WWII.
jcelect

If you enjoy Submarine stories you might check out the following link for the USS Batfish, the most successful killing U.S. Submarine in world war II which it is now located near Muskogee Oklahoma.

USS BATFISH (SS 310) WAR PATROL #6

That was the only sumerged Sub to Sub kill of the war. There were quite a few submerged vs surfaced subs. That U-boat was carrying several tonnes of mercury in sealed flasks. The last I heard about it, several governments were considering either raising both peices of the wreckage, Or encasing them in concreate. Aparently the leaking flasks are contaminating the seabed and local fish.

The Germans had a radar detection device called Metox. Mysteriously their losses sky rocketed. Many boats were lost before they found out the Allies could detect Metox before it could detect the radar.

They still sleep on the fish. My boss was on the nuke boat USS Annapolis and slept that way. They also hot bunk with sailors on different watches sharing the same rack.