| PappyCain |
12-02-11 07:49 PM |
"...in 2001, when the wreck of Robert E. Lee was located, in a depth of more than 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of water, the wreck of U-166 was also located, less than two miles from where it had attacked the Robert E. Lee. Upon investigation, it was discovered that another U-boat, U-171, also operating in the Gulf of Mexico, had reported coming under attack from an American aircraft on 1 August 1942, with little damage. Therefore, the credit for the sinking of U-166 should have gone to PC-566. The site where U-166 lies, at has now been designated a war grave due to its crew of 52 being entombed there, and is protected from any future attempts to salvage it."
:salute:
"A highly sought-after World War II German submarine, the U-166, was recently discovered 45 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River through the joint efforts of the Minerals Management Service and BP and Shell Oil companies. The U-166, the only German submarine sunk in the Gulf of Mexico, rests in the crater it created when it was sent to the bottom by a depth charge in the summer of 1942, shortly after the U-166 torpedoed and sank the passenger freighter S.S. Robert E. Lee. The wreckage of the submarine was found in 5,000 feet of water. The U-boat's whereabouts had long been disputed and it was thought to lie far from its actual resting-place, said MMS officials. MMS archaeologists were part of the scientific team that was instrumental in locating and identifying the WWII U-boat. The news of the discovery solved a 59-year old mystery and ended decades of fruitless searching.
"Finding this long-lost submarine was an extraordinary event," said MMS Acting Director Tom Kitsos. "MMS requires the oil industry to file detailed plans for pipelines and platforms before they can construct them," he continued. "Part of these plans involves detailed surveys of the Gulf floor along the construction site. It was in doing this survey that the U-boat was found." Its discovery and confirmation came as a result of an MMS-required shallow-hazard and archaeological survey of the seafloor prior to construction of a proposed gas pipeline by BP and Shell Oil. The gas pipeline survey employed a high-tech, mini-submarine, remote-sensing instrument had never before been used in the Gulf of Mexico. It is unlikely that this discovery, or many others that have been made in the waters of the Outer Continental Shelf, would have occurred without the regulation and oversight of MMS. As a result of this important discovery, BP and Shell have re-routed their proposed pipeline around the site, a standard means of preserving historic sites from harm during construction.The MMS considers the effect of all its actions, including lease sales, studies and permits, on the cultural heritage of the United States. To meet this responsibility, it requires the oil and gas industry to conduct marine remote-sensing surveys that may identify shipwrecks."
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