U-boat located near Nantucket

[Hinrich Schwab]

I normally do not consider Yahoo reliable, but this report is just plain cool.
http://news.yahoo.com/explorers-sunk...002241065.html

[Admiral Von Gerlach]

That is correct U 550 went missing off the coast of New England after sinking one of the largest allied oil tankers afloat at the time SS Pan Pennslyvania, she was under escort by three destroyers, sign of how important her cargo was, but the U Boat skillfully sank her but was crippled and surfaced and then sunk by ramming by one of the destroyers and a depth charge from another. The valiant crew some of them escaped and were interned in the UK, a bit strange to take them all the way back across the atlantic but that was the decision of the time. This brave boat has finally been discovered and is intact and it may indeed be raised to the surface as few U boats of this vintage are discovered completely intact.

here is the info:

U-550: Scuba divers discover German U-boat on US East Coast
July 28, 2012 By Bernd F. Laeschke Leave a Comment

Nantucket (global-adventures.us): Divers did locate U-550, a World War II German submarine, in deep water about 70 miles from the Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, according to several reports in German news outlets. The U-boat, built by the Deutsche Werft in Hamburg, was launched on May 12, 1943, and commissioned on July 28, 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Klaus Hänert.

After training runs with the 4th U-boat Flotilla, the 252 feet (76.8 meter) Type IXC/40 oceangoing submarine was assigned to the 10th U-boat Flotilla on February 1, 1944. Several days later, U-550 left the city of Kiel, Germany, and U-550: Scuba divers discover German U-boat on US East Coastheaded into the North Atlantic. Two crew members were lost during a fight with a Consolidated PBY Catalina, an American flying boat, on February 22, 1944. However, the German submarine escaped the attack.

Armed with 22 torpedoes, the crew of U-550 located convoy CU 21 bound for Great Britain and torpedoed the SS Pennsylvania, at the time one of the largest tankers in the world, on April 16, 1944. The 11,016 gross register tons (GRT) ship was badly damaged during the attack and began to sink. USS Joyce (DE-317), the escort division's flagship, detected the U-Boat on sonar and severely damaged it with a barrage of depth charges. U-550 surfaced, and did finally sink after it was rammed by the USS Gandy (DE-764) and two additional depth charges, dropped from the USS Peterson (DE–152).

A team of seven scuba divers discovered the wreck of the German submarine on July 23, 2012, using sonar. The team searched several years for U-550, and plans to return to the site and continue exploring the wreck. The picture shows crewmembers of U-550 abandoning ship. Photo: United States Coast Guard/Public Domain

Sinking of the U 550 US Navy photograph:



550 sinking with the SS Pan Pennslyvania burning in the background so the sinking of this brave boat was not in vain..



another IXC class boat as an example:



rare photo of U 550 at sea;



http://www.global-adventures.us/2012...us-east-coast/

http://www.capitolcolumn.com/news/wo...-of-nantucket/

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012...wjN/story.html

info:

http://www.wreckhunter.net/DataPages/u550-dat.htm

[Sailor Steve]

Now we have five threads on this. Or is it six?

[Admiral Von Gerlach]

It is nice to have the news, no matter how many threads may appear. I for one dont mind having good news in any form. thanks to the OP and all the others too

[Sailor Steve]

It's nice for people to actually read the forums before posting.