Mystery Object Photographed at U-352 Wreck (North Carolina)

Roger. Thank you! A much more edifying response than “nO iT dOeSnT”.

 

Worth mentioning that the best theory I’ve heard so far was from a modern-day German Navy sailor on Reddit who said it looked like the latching mechanism for the conning tower hatch. That does raise the question, however, of why the object is on the port side of the wreck (touching against the hull), when the sub itself lists ~45 degrees to starboard. If the latching mechanism had fallen off from deterioration, it would be on the opposite side of the wreck.

The conning tower hatch itself is gone and there’s just an empty hole. I don’t recall seeing the hatch on the seafloor off the starboard side- but, then again, I wasn’t really looking for it either. If it is the latching mechanism, it’s present location could be the result of the wreck’s original re-discoverers in 1975. The U-353 didn’t fall under the legal protections of a naval war grave until the 1990’s, so the divers who found her plundered the sh*t out of her. While this was certainly disrespectful of the dead, they did produce a ton of cool artifacts currently on display at Olympus Dive Center.

I’m not sure if the guys in 70’s may have removed the conning tower hatch. I certainly hope not, but by all accounts it seems the hatch was still attached to the sub when she sank, I’m unsure of whether or not it was open at the time, though.

 

They might have...how easy was it to access the interior back then. I can't imagine it would be easy to get in with an air tank or two.

 

Welcome to the forum. The legendary OpanaPointer does grow on you over time -- sort of like a fun-loving fungus

 

Folks, it seems the mystery is solved! It's an inflatable life raft container. It was apparently attached to the outside of the U-boat. While I'm not yet sure where on the sub it would have been attached, this does likely explain why it is located in its current position.

Props to whoever runs the Olympus Dive Shop Instagram account.

 

Interesting. Those are common today and for a while, but I'd never heard of them in WWII.

 

Hedgehog was a spigot mortar, so firing imposed a recoil on the deck and structure. Its 24 bombs fired two at a time, at fraction of a second intervals, so as to spread out the impact. It still might have been too much for smaller ships like Icarus or sub chasers, hence Mousetrap, a rocket with no recoil force.

 

Location of the forward life raft containers.

Can't say that I am 100% convinced. I was under the impression that the canisters were about 3 times as deep as they were wide. While the mystery object appears to be about as wide as it is deep.