Dutch navy finds sunken German submarine

[Feuer Frei!]

THE Dutch navy has discovered the wreck of a German World War I submarine sunk by a mine on its maiden voyage and the remains will become an official war grave, the Dutch Defense Ministry announced today. The wreck of the U-106 is lying on the seabed 40 metres underwater. It is 65 kilometres north of Terschelling, an island in the Wadden Sea off the northern Netherlands.
The sub sank in October 1917 after hitting a mine with the loss of all 41 crew, Dutch navy spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Robin Middel told The Associated Press.
The 71-metre sub fell foul of an allied minefield in the North Sea at the end of its first voyage, during which it had torpedoed two British ships, Middel said.
Normally the German U-boats would be guided through the mines by a surface ship capable of detecting the explosives, Middel said, but on its ill-fated voyage the sub ran into a newly laid British mine.
The sub "was to make a rendezvous with that ship, but the ship never found the submarine and nobody had ever heard anything more from it," Middel said.
The wreck was first discovered in October 2009, during mapping of North Sea shipping routes. The find was only announced after the Dutch Defence Ministry authorities confirmed its identity with German authorities and informed relatives of the missing submariners.
The Dutch navy initially believed the wreck was a Dutch submarine, 0-13, that went missing during World War II, but divers and remote cameras later confirmed it was the U-106.
"This kind of discovery is almost always an accident," said Captain Lieutenant Jouke Spoelstra, who led the project to identify the wreck. "Years ago, a hydrographical service ship passed the same spot but at that time the wreck was buried beneath a layer of sand."
The navy said the wreck will remain where it is and be considered an official war grave. It is possible that a commemoration service will be held if relatives of the submariners request it.


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