The U-boat lost in the closing days of the war

I recall reading of a U-boat that was sunk by aircraft while on a dash to Norway from Germany in the closing, few days of the war and found in the late 80's or early 90's. She was subsequently raised by salvagers as the boat had become a net hazard to fishermen. Further examination showed that while the bow and aft compartments were flooded, the middle, control compartment was airtight, even after 50 years submerged. What a find! What a time capsule! When the hatches were finally opened and the boat ventilated, it was found to be packed with large amounts of champagne,tinned chocolates and condoms. Apparently somebody was planning one hellova party. Does anybody know the fate of the submarine and what else they found aboard her? Best wishes, John.

 

Heh heh heh. I wonder if they were also going to serve Oysters too. As a collector, the Champagne would be worth a mint, if you could afford to buy a bottle or two.

 

Yeah. The tinned chocolates and champagne were probably still tasty, even after 50 plus years, but I'd throw out the oysters though. I wonder if anybody knows who she was and what was her final fate? Best wishes, John

 

I would sure love to see photos of that compartment for sure. I too would chuck the oysters--heh heh, I bet they had some big Pearls!!

I havent a clue which boat it copuld be, do you know where the location of it was--as a wreck? i could possibly look it up in a book of uboat losses--according to its location--possibly.

 

Sorry, the old memory is as sharp as a wet noodle. I remember reading a newspaper account, that said the boat was caught on the surface by B-24's and depth charged. The crew got off okay, but the sub sank from the damage inflicted. As I said, the sub became a net hazzard for local fishermen and a salvaging company contracted to raise her. When they brought her into shallow water, it was found that the control room was still pressurized and the watertight doors were still sealed. Historians must have wet themselves in anticipation at finding such a historical time capsule. Once the boat was ventilated, they found the control room as it was last seen in May of 45.Codebooks, equipment, canned goods, crates of champagne, tinned chocolates and boxes and boxes of condoms.

 

Lost in the closing days of the war eh? I will have to look at a possible 150 or more Uboat losses because of Operation Deadlight. I'll see if I can come up with any possibilities, and being it was going to Norway doesnt make any sence but, ill try checking for wrecks near there as well. The trouble is, is there are a heck of a lot of them in that area and I can whittle them down slowly based on losses info I have--i'll see what I can do.

 

I believe the boat you speak of is U-251, sunk in the Kattegat after it was surprised by a rocket-firing Mosquito of RAF Coastal Command
Hope this helps

 

Good show Ryan, and i'll look in my uboat losses book and see if I can do any real translating of anything and will post here as soon as possible.

 

Dear Carl, i believe there is a fair chance i am correct, but with the records of Operation Deadlight floundering, the Allies didn't really keep us collectors in mind when they scuttled all those precious U-Boats now did they-it could be any number of the 2000+ U-Boats that the Germans produced!!!!

 

HI guys: I believe the sub you are thinking of is U-534. She was raised in 1993. U-251 is a dive site at locu" 57.37N, 11.51E. This is southeast of the Danish island of Laeso and south of the Swedish city of Goteborg. The U-534 was sunk just NW of U-251. I hope this is helpful as the ETO is not my area of knowledge.

 

OOPS: The info I provided was aquired from a web site I came across and is not my own (I cant take credit for research I didnt do). The site is "uboat.net". The site has some info for free while full access requires a fee but looks like a great site for U-boats.

 

Ryan--you might be right--I still havent found the time to research it.

Stevin--the pictures you saw on that Uboat--U 534--were taken by my friend Susanne Giehler--when she was living in England. She has done tones of research on this uboat (we spent 2 days at the Uboat archiv in Altenbruch doing some research--her on this uboat--me on U 181 of course)

Last I heard--I think she was going to greatly expand or make another site devoted to thisd Uboat. If you happen to try and contact Susanne--please send my best regards to her for me will you

 

Its not U-534. I know this because there is a documentry currently being shown on the National Geographic channel in the UK. The documentry showed the rasing of U-524 and there was no airtight compartment and no champaigne, comdoms or chocolates.

John Dudek, I think the U-boat was raised in the 90s.

 

A website on the RAISED U534, now displayed in Birkenhead, Merseyside, UK.

http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/u534.html

 

Thanks BWDS for posting this link. The pics were all taken by my friend Susanne Giehler. This was sometime before I met her in person--before 2000.