Sunken German U-boat found Friday, 8 June, 2001 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1379210.stm Two international oil companies say they have discovered the location of a sunken wartime German submarine in the Gulf of Mexico close to the United States coast. The oil companies, BP Amoco and Shell, stumbled across the wreckage of the U-boat while surveying for a planned underwater oil pipeline, about 70 km (45 miles) from the mouth of the Mississippi River. It was found near the wreckage of an American freighter, the SS Robert E Lee, which it torpedoed on 30 July 1942. The freighter had been heading for the southern US city of New Orleans, and was carrying 400 passengers and crew. Twenty-five of the people on board died. Salvage workers have been trying to locate the U-166 ever since it was sunk by the US military a short time later. All 52 crewmembers on board the submarine were killed. It is believed to be the only German submarine to have been sunk in the Gulf of Mexico. "Both the Robert E Lee and the U166 are protected by International Treaty," Hugh Depland, Public Affairs Manager for BP, told ABC News. "They are war gravesites; they cannot be disturbed in any fashion, they can't be dived upon, they can't be recovered and we would make no attempt to do that," he said.
Nice little story and thank you Kai. I had not know that U 166 was the only loss thought to have happened in the Gulf. My mother said she read many stories about people seeing ships torpedoed looking out the windows and doors to their homes. Needless to say--there were VERY strict blackout regulations in effect for homes along the coast.
A television showing about U-166 on the History Channel last knight...anyone see it? The little guy (Historian at D-Day Museum) said that the Type IX C was the most widely used and produced U-Boot of WWII. HUH??? I always thought that "that" title went to the Type VII C... Still, it was a well done documentary and was especially interesting to me since the Gulf Of Mexico is my "back yard." The argument seemed a bit funny to have been said that a seaplane (?) carrying a SINGLE depth charge was thought responsible for U-166's fate until later research showed the PC to be the one that dealt the blow... That whole scenario seems mighty odd. With PC 566 dropping several DC's after the Robert E. Lee was torpedoed vs. a single aircraft dropping a single DC...
I saw the show and thought it was good too. I was curious as to why the U-boat commander that was returning to France and hit a mine was put up on charges and what his fate was. Any boat can hit a mine. The type of aircraft used to drop the depth charge was a Grumman G-44 Widgeon and it was very underpowered. It had two 200hp engines and with two crewmen and a 200 pound depth charge and full fuel it was a struggle to get in the air and fly. the cruise speed was 138mph, but at that stage of the war they were desperate for aircraft. In British service they were called Goslings.
Dear friends of Forum. I found various links about German U-166. I'm in preparation in an article of his documentary for the pages U-Historia, Ubootwaffe 1939-1945 . In English the tittle is U-Boats in the Gulf Some links are documents in PDF very interesting. You may print theese and enjoy it. Photos, research, more amazing.....A book about this theme. The Robert E Lee, The PC-566, The U-166...... The PC-566 sank the U-166, not the aircraft. A sample photo of the 3.7 gun: By the http://www.pastfoundation.org pages Links http://www.cjchrist.com/ http://www.sonsub.com/rovs/rovs.htm http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/h7/honesdale.htm http://www.uscg.mil/history/U166.html http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03u166/welcome.html http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03u166/media/u166sonar.html http://www.cctechnol.com/site.php?pageID=24&newsID=178 http://www.cctechnol.com/site.php?pageID=24&newsID=170 http://www.cctechnol.com/site.php?pageID=24&newsID=166 http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/regulate/environ/archaeological/world_war_II.html http://www.pastfoundation.org/U166/ http://www.dbi.ca/Ocean/U166/index.html http://www.u-historia.com > Historia > Historial UBoots > U166 U171 http://www.u-historia.com > Técnica > Armamento > Minas http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WAMGER_Mines.htm
