Carotio
10-09-07, 04:22 PM
http://jp.dk/indland/article1120454.ece
My translation of the article:
Imagetext:
A team of non-professional divers have discovered the wreck of a u-boat from Second World War at the bottom of Kattegat east of Læsø. Private photo
Title:
Rare German u-boat wreck discovered
Published October 7th 2007
Non-professional divers found last tuesday the wreck of a German u-boat, which was sunk May 2nd 1945. The boat is situated at the sea floor east of Læsø.
The u-boat U-2359 has been a searched object for the last 12 years.
Finally last tuesday, a team of non-professional divers hit the jackpot, when they discovered the wreck at the bottom of Kattegat east of Læsø. The boat was until last tuesday the last missing German u-boat, which was lost in Danish national waters during the Second World War.
It has been object for a search ever since.
The boat is despite its 200 tons a light weight class u-boat. It is only 34,28 meters long, sp it was contructed to travel in shallow waters and from there attack the ennemy very close to land.
Secret spot
Allan Greisen is one of the four non-professional divers, who was quite lucky, when they dived to a yet secret GPS-adress.
"We have searched for it for 12 years. Now we have finally discovered it. It's a special little case. It was placed at the sea floor with a 30 degree gradient, and the rear end is floating, so you can dive underneath it. It has apparently crashdived directly towards the sea floor, and there it has been ever since" Allan Greisen reports.
Rare speciman
The boat was sunk May 2nd 1945 by 35 English Moskito fighters. There is yet no other specimen of this u-boat type in any of the museums around the world, so it could be interesting to pull it up.
At least, so think the non-professional divers and Flemming Hansen, who in his free time for many years has studied specifically the u-boats/submarines from the years around the Second World War.
Easy to salvage
"Historically, it is interesting, and one has earlier on salvaged ships up to 6 times bigger, so this one should be easy enough to salvage. 50-60 pieces of this kind were constructed, and this one was finished in January 1945. But a huge part of the German u-boats were lost, because the Germans scuttled them themselves at the end of the war", says Flemming Hansen.
The divers from the diving ship "Ternen" has through the many last years found several hundred wrecks, among these U-534, which was brought to the surface of the sea during the summer of 1993 by the owner of Den Blå Avis (Danish newspaper for selling your used objects), Karsten Ree. Some expected that nazi gold would be found onboard U-534, but it turned out to be nothing but a myth. It was only equipped with, what you could expect from a u-boat for warfare.
Facts box:
Link for uboat.net = http://uboat.net/boats/u2359.htm (http://uboat.net/boats/u2359.htm)
U-2359 - Type XXIII
The 250 ton heavy and 35 meter long U 2359 with 12 seamen onboard was on its way to Norway.
The u-boat was sunk May 2nd 1945 by rockets from English Moskito fighters, which was supported by Canadian and Norwegian Moskito fighters.
There is still no specimen of this type of u-boat in any museum of the world.
During May 1945, allied air forces intensified their hunting for German shipping in the inner Danish national waters.
My translation of the article:
Imagetext:
A team of non-professional divers have discovered the wreck of a u-boat from Second World War at the bottom of Kattegat east of Læsø. Private photo
Title:
Rare German u-boat wreck discovered
Published October 7th 2007
Non-professional divers found last tuesday the wreck of a German u-boat, which was sunk May 2nd 1945. The boat is situated at the sea floor east of Læsø.
The u-boat U-2359 has been a searched object for the last 12 years.
Finally last tuesday, a team of non-professional divers hit the jackpot, when they discovered the wreck at the bottom of Kattegat east of Læsø. The boat was until last tuesday the last missing German u-boat, which was lost in Danish national waters during the Second World War.
It has been object for a search ever since.
The boat is despite its 200 tons a light weight class u-boat. It is only 34,28 meters long, sp it was contructed to travel in shallow waters and from there attack the ennemy very close to land.
Secret spot
Allan Greisen is one of the four non-professional divers, who was quite lucky, when they dived to a yet secret GPS-adress.
"We have searched for it for 12 years. Now we have finally discovered it. It's a special little case. It was placed at the sea floor with a 30 degree gradient, and the rear end is floating, so you can dive underneath it. It has apparently crashdived directly towards the sea floor, and there it has been ever since" Allan Greisen reports.
Rare speciman
The boat was sunk May 2nd 1945 by 35 English Moskito fighters. There is yet no other specimen of this u-boat type in any of the museums around the world, so it could be interesting to pull it up.
At least, so think the non-professional divers and Flemming Hansen, who in his free time for many years has studied specifically the u-boats/submarines from the years around the Second World War.
Easy to salvage
"Historically, it is interesting, and one has earlier on salvaged ships up to 6 times bigger, so this one should be easy enough to salvage. 50-60 pieces of this kind were constructed, and this one was finished in January 1945. But a huge part of the German u-boats were lost, because the Germans scuttled them themselves at the end of the war", says Flemming Hansen.
The divers from the diving ship "Ternen" has through the many last years found several hundred wrecks, among these U-534, which was brought to the surface of the sea during the summer of 1993 by the owner of Den Blå Avis (Danish newspaper for selling your used objects), Karsten Ree. Some expected that nazi gold would be found onboard U-534, but it turned out to be nothing but a myth. It was only equipped with, what you could expect from a u-boat for warfare.
Facts box:
Link for uboat.net = http://uboat.net/boats/u2359.htm (http://uboat.net/boats/u2359.htm)
U-2359 - Type XXIII
The 250 ton heavy and 35 meter long U 2359 with 12 seamen onboard was on its way to Norway.
The u-boat was sunk May 2nd 1945 by rockets from English Moskito fighters, which was supported by Canadian and Norwegian Moskito fighters.
There is still no specimen of this type of u-boat in any museum of the world.
During May 1945, allied air forces intensified their hunting for German shipping in the inner Danish national waters.