I watched another riveting program last evening on Treasure Quest, which is on the Discovery Channel, Thursday evenings at 10 p.m. This program features Odyssey Marine Exploration, which has been responsible for making several large discoveries in the past, latest among them the long lost HMS Suprise.
The program last night was of particular interest to me as it was on UBoats. The mission was twofold. They were interested in mapping and identifying a handful of previously unidentified uboats lying in the English Channel. The second goal was to update misidentified uboats as well as bring closure to those families who had lost loved ones and to make the German Government aware of which uboats they had found and where they were located, being war graves.
They focused on four boats. On board to help identify were one retired American submariner with 20 years of experience and one of the leading experts on German uboats, Axel Niestle.
The first dive centered on a boat off the Cornish coast, which British historians had erroneously identified earlier as the U-325. Yet by pulling their state-of-the-art ROV in for a closer study of the boats equipement, particularly the "platform" or listening device on the underside of the forward section of the hull, Niestle was able to i.d. it as U-400.
The next submarine was a real mystery for them as the sub itself was in very good condition and having the ROV scan it's multiple cameras over the hull, it could find no war damage which would have caused it's sinking. The design indicated that it was a VIIC (7C), and the snorkel indicated that the ship dated from late in the war......1945. The consensus after much discussion was that this submarine suffered some type of seal failure, plunging it 300 feet to the bottom. Noting it's location, Niestle would be returning to the archives to track down this mysterious submarine.
Next up was a uboat described by British historians incorrectly as U-480. Two years prior to the Odyssey team showing up on this war grave, the real U- 480 had been found many miles away, meaning that this particular submarine had been misidentified. The task of attempting to bring to light which uboat this actually was would now be a daunting challenge. Years of fishing nets and ropes covered it, and the ROV actually became entagled in some of the netting......yet through skillfull manuvering was able to extricate itself.
This particular submarine has been absolutely shredded and rendered almost certainly unidentifiable. By studying the twisted wreckage and blown open pressure hull, Niestle was of the opinion that it had suffered a barrage of at least 100 depthcharges. Given it's condition, and with time constraints, they were not able to identify this particular uboat and so they moved on to the last one.
This last uboat lay 14 miles off the southern English coast. Great Britain knew of it's location, but they did not know which uboat this was. Arriving on station the Odyssey crew went to work. Giving a brief history lesson as they all sat in the t.v. room watching images from the ROV play over the hull, Niestle explained that he was taking a very close look at the base of the gun mount forward of the conning tower on this boat. He said that the older uboats had a particular design at the base of the gun platform, a design which later in the war was discontinued. He also stated that he knew there were very few of the older boats left at the end of the war with this particular design, and he had narrowed it down to two uboats; U-650 or U-1191, both which to this day were still listed as missing.
As the ROV roamed forward, they were able to find the forward gun mount and identify this partiular design, but he also felt that in order to properly record and identify this beyond the shadow of a doubt as the U-650, he needed further evidence and so the ROV was deployed forward to look for canisters which held the life boats in place on deck. Once the ROV arrived on station and panned the cameras, there were no canisters or evidence of apparatus where they should have been. Undaunted however, he requested that the unit make a pass around the side, and coming about, low and behold, lying on the sea bed upside down in a row were the canisters, which then clearly marked this as the U-650.
So, while it was a mixed success, I think the ships crew came away with a good feeling about the work they had accomplished on this particular run. One of them quipped that it wasn't just always about them looking for gold and valuable salvage, but that they also had the capacity to do good works. I personally feel that last evenings program was outstanding and I hope that for those who are interested, you can catch the replay.
For Discovery Channel programming go to: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/seri...6.25703.37634.x I believe they might be running this again.
The program last night was of particular interest to me as it was on UBoats. The mission was twofold. They were interested in mapping and identifying a handful of previously unidentified uboats lying in the English Channel. The second goal was to update misidentified uboats as well as bring closure to those families who had lost loved ones and to make the German Government aware of which uboats they had found and where they were located, being war graves.
They focused on four boats. On board to help identify were one retired American submariner with 20 years of experience and one of the leading experts on German uboats, Axel Niestle.
The first dive centered on a boat off the Cornish coast, which British historians had erroneously identified earlier as the U-325. Yet by pulling their state-of-the-art ROV in for a closer study of the boats equipement, particularly the "platform" or listening device on the underside of the forward section of the hull, Niestle was able to i.d. it as U-400.
The next submarine was a real mystery for them as the sub itself was in very good condition and having the ROV scan it's multiple cameras over the hull, it could find no war damage which would have caused it's sinking. The design indicated that it was a VIIC (7C), and the snorkel indicated that the ship dated from late in the war......1945. The consensus after much discussion was that this submarine suffered some type of seal failure, plunging it 300 feet to the bottom. Noting it's location, Niestle would be returning to the archives to track down this mysterious submarine.
Next up was a uboat described by British historians incorrectly as U-480. Two years prior to the Odyssey team showing up on this war grave, the real U- 480 had been found many miles away, meaning that this particular submarine had been misidentified. The task of attempting to bring to light which uboat this actually was would now be a daunting challenge. Years of fishing nets and ropes covered it, and the ROV actually became entagled in some of the netting......yet through skillfull manuvering was able to extricate itself.
This particular submarine has been absolutely shredded and rendered almost certainly unidentifiable. By studying the twisted wreckage and blown open pressure hull, Niestle was of the opinion that it had suffered a barrage of at least 100 depthcharges. Given it's condition, and with time constraints, they were not able to identify this particular uboat and so they moved on to the last one.
This last uboat lay 14 miles off the southern English coast. Great Britain knew of it's location, but they did not know which uboat this was. Arriving on station the Odyssey crew went to work. Giving a brief history lesson as they all sat in the t.v. room watching images from the ROV play over the hull, Niestle explained that he was taking a very close look at the base of the gun mount forward of the conning tower on this boat. He said that the older uboats had a particular design at the base of the gun platform, a design which later in the war was discontinued. He also stated that he knew there were very few of the older boats left at the end of the war with this particular design, and he had narrowed it down to two uboats; U-650 or U-1191, both which to this day were still listed as missing.
As the ROV roamed forward, they were able to find the forward gun mount and identify this partiular design, but he also felt that in order to properly record and identify this beyond the shadow of a doubt as the U-650, he needed further evidence and so the ROV was deployed forward to look for canisters which held the life boats in place on deck. Once the ROV arrived on station and panned the cameras, there were no canisters or evidence of apparatus where they should have been. Undaunted however, he requested that the unit make a pass around the side, and coming about, low and behold, lying on the sea bed upside down in a row were the canisters, which then clearly marked this as the U-650.
So, while it was a mixed success, I think the ships crew came away with a good feeling about the work they had accomplished on this particular run. One of them quipped that it wasn't just always about them looking for gold and valuable salvage, but that they also had the capacity to do good works. I personally feel that last evenings program was outstanding and I hope that for those who are interested, you can catch the replay.
For Discovery Channel programming go to: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/seri...6.25703.37634.x I believe they might be running this again.
