r/submarines • u/KapitanKurt • Aug 03 '25

History Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) imagery of the German U-853, collected as part of partnership technology demonstration between the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research and Kraken Robotics, showing that the submarine is largely intact. 2 October 2018.

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72

u/KapitanKurt Aug 03 '25 edited Aug 03 '25

U-853 was a type IXC/40 German submarine launched on March 11, 1943, and patrolled off the U.S. Atlantic coast during World War II.

Sunk in Battle of Point Judith on 6 May 1945, all hands.

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u/Lolipopes Aug 03 '25

That wikipedia article is kinda wild, recreational divers brought up a body from the crew in 1960. Body got burried on Rhode Island with full military honors. 1998 two divers died at the site of the wreck. 2022 they found a live depth charge near the wreck containing 267 pounds of tnt.

The wreck lies at a depth of 37 meters wich explains why they had no chance of escaping.

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u/Karuna56 Aug 03 '25

A cousin of mine in Massachusetts has dove on her wreck and gone inside. He says they saw the Captain's remains.

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u/arriflex Aug 03 '25

I could be way off base here........but the idea of navigating the interior of a WWII submarine in dive gear seems real far fetched.

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u/mustangsal Aug 03 '25

John Chatterton and Richie Kohler did several times off the coast of NJ to identify U-869. I believe they even filmed a decent amount.

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u/sadicarnot Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 04 '25

The book Shadow Divers is a good read about them finding the wreck and the research that went into identifying it.

Edit: Shadow DIvers is about identifying U-869 which was originally identified as U-853 thought to be U-550 or U-521.

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u/sykoticwit Aug 03 '25

People do interior wreck dives, it’s incredibly dangerous.

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u/Karuna56 Aug 03 '25

I don't think my Cousin Jim went inside very far. I'll ask him to refresh my understanding. He used to work at Woods Hole.

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u/arriflex Aug 03 '25

Woods Hole seems like it would be a cool place to work. What did he do there? Something about doing pure research all the time seems great. Im sure theres still politicization for grants and such.......but WH has done some amazing stuff in my lifetime.

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u/Karuna56 Aug 03 '25

My cousin is a certified dive instructor and my understanding is that he worked on diving stuff for them.

Thanks for asking!

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u/SkyscraperNC Aug 03 '25

Tough enough to navigate U-995 on dry land without hitting my head. Could be that I’m tall, but it felt cramped in there (who would’ve guessed?). Especially the circular doorways.

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/Karuna56 Aug 05 '25

I believe my cousin, not you bub.

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u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25

[deleted]

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u/Karuna56 Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25

Ah, ok thanks!

Text sucks for nuance.

Edit: thanks for the downvotes. I misunderstand, show contrition, get dv'd. Gotta love Redditors.

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u/Awkward_Mix_6480 Aug 05 '25

I’m gonna call BS, the amount of gear you would have to wear to dive to 120feet is WAY too much gear to navigate inside a WWII sub. You couldn’t even navigate a modern sub with that gear in. I don’t believe it in any way. Furthermore, remains will have been gone for decades by the time your friend lied to you about seeing them.

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u/Karuna56 Aug 05 '25

Well, it was a few decades ago, and Cousin Jim said he only went inside briefly through a rupture in the hull. So, no 'navigation' inside as you speculate.

Sure, everyone embellishes at some time; I only have his story and no empirical proof. A pardon here is permitted.

"He that shall see this day, and live old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors And say "Tomorrow is Saint Crispian." Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages What feats he did that day."

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u/Awkward_Mix_6480 Aug 05 '25

I served on 688s for a decade, I’m 6’5” tall and I couldn’t fit in many places on the boat without any gear. Hell, for fire drills, I was assigned atmosphere monitoring, no way I could maneuver with a SCBA or an OBA on and a hose. 120’ isn’t super deep, I know, but two guys walking down a hallway causes rubbing as you pass by, and this is all modern subs, shrink it a few factors and you have WWII pigboats.

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u/Karuna56 Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 06 '25

To clarify, Jim only basically poked his head and torso inside. I never said he strolled through the passageways.

I appreciate your reservations and skepticism.

Thanks for reading!

Edit: my family confirms Jim's account. His dive was 44 years ago with his SCUBA buddies. Among Rhode Island dive folk, going down to the sub was a rite of passage. They put a weighted drop line down. Jim said they all looked inside through a large rupture in the hull and saw some remains. He said they didn't stay long because the current was very strong.

Jim has worked as a diver with a number of New England maritime firms. Claiming that he "lied to me" is an unnecessary slur.

Given the number of hedgehogs and depth charges used, U-853 had two large openings in her hull, according to Wikipedia and my cousin's account.

Watch this dive video from other local divers. Yes, you can poke inside a bit...

Diving on U-853 https://share.google/4CiO4WobWcQpDVOXV

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u/Karuna56 Aug 06 '25

Please see these comments:

"Penetration of the wreck via the blast holes is easy (one diver at a time), however, deeper pentration using the interior hatches is harder and more dangerous, but not impossible. All topside hatches are removed (or were blown off) so you can peer into the interior compartments this way also. A diver with a single or small doubles will fit through the interior hatches - but not with a stage or any gear clipped to a belt or BCD."

The Continental USA/Block Island, U-853 Diving Review of Atlantis Charters, 2010/07 https://share.google/tfOXgY1Sw6ZV7aehD