Last Voyage of the U-853

over sixty years ago the last battle for the Atlantic was fought just a few miles of the coast of Rhode Island this is the story of the you 853 the men who fought that last better 1942 saw the u-boats come to America we were totally unprepared they roamed up and down our coasts torpedoing ships at will and at times they were only less than one mile offshore be a dark of night a broad daylight it did not matter to the u-boat the u-boat crews referred to this part of the war as the happy times Winston Churchill once wrote the only thing that really frightened me was the u-boat peril I was even more anxious about this battle then I had then about the glorious air fight called the Battle of Britain u-boat successes were short-lived by 1943 the tide of battle had changed and at the end the balance sheet was a terrible one between 1939 to 1945 1162 u-boats were built of which 784 were lost from all causes by far the greatest number 632 were sunk at sea [Music] the u-boat sunk fourteen million six hundred and eighty seven thousand tons of Allied shipping plus one hundred and seventy-five warships out of forty thousand men who served on u-boats twenty-eight thousand were killed and only five thousand were captured the German u-boat service of world war ii sustained the highest casualty rate of any service in any war [Music] our story is about the you 8:53 the type 94 tu boat 251 feet 10 inches long 1144 tons displacement [Music] a stallion walking a tightrope was the emblem that you 8:53 carried on her conning tower this emblem represented her ability to make it home from battle the commissioning of the you 853 commandant lieutenant helmet summer is fifth from the right in the front row over lieutenant helmet forms Dorf is on his left you 853 screws socialising before a mission forms Dorf is wearing the neck time here officers from the u 853 are holding welcome home bouquets after returning to a French port from a successful weather reconnaissance mission two of these men perished with the u 853 radio operator Kurtz which alert and machine petty officer helmet furs at left W 210 at right was transferred from the u 853 before her last patrol on May 25th 1944 the u 853 was on her first war patrol reporting weather conditions in the Atlantic under the command of captain Helmut summer because German intelligence believed that weather conditions in the Atlantic could be used to help predict the timing of the Allies invasion of Europe incredibly on this patrol the u 853 spotted the Queen Mary which was loaded with American troops and supplies the you 853 submerged to attack but the liner was too fast and outran the sub had she surfaced in her wake Fairey swordfish aircraft from the merchant carriers envied anxious and envied Empire Mackendrick attacked the you lead 53 on the surface the you 853 returned fire hitting all three aircraft the u 853 took no significant damage and all three planes were able to return to their carriers one plane was so damaged and had to be jettisoned the Germans didn't know it at the time that the Allies had developed sophisticated radio Direction technology so every time the U 853 radio to weather report her position was being tracked On June 15th US Navy aircraft in several destroyers again tracked her as she traveled on the surface but she was able to evade them this first patrol earned the you heed 53 the Allies nickname of Moby Dick because of her ability to evade Allied forces two days later two wildcat aircraft from the USS Kurata an escort carrier in nucleus of a hunter-killer group including six destroyers intercepted a radio signal only 30 miles away and surprised the you week 53 on the surface the USS coral tom was captained by John P vest here Captain vest and professor Hank Keats talk of that encounter we were the first ship to fly night patrols around the clock and we were 56 hours without having all airplanes on deck and he kept getting closer and closer and finally the submarine came up within about 20 miles of where he said all of captain vest patrols were out at the time so he sent in two fighter planes alone the fighters came in fast and caught him all that can strafe them and that's what put him out of commission because not only was the captain badly hurt but the air largest was killed summer received 24 wounds and had Shosh arm shoulders and chest area that he had 28 shrapnel wounds due to that air attack that's when farm stalkers executive officer actually took command but in correspondence after the war of course summer then being under convalescence survived the war and in correspondence with him he stated that farm star was young and ambitious and he had tried to ask him not to be frivolous the war is about to end and please don't endanger his crew the captain did a splendid job getting them he he used his of his thermals very will and finally got away to the port that we decided we killed him and they pulled all about halfway into the place we were well into the Bay of Biscay when we pulled away and we went to home and believed until after the war that we had no he had killed not summer but Moby Dick had survived David Arnold from the Boston Globe speaks of the last meeting between now captain helmet forms Dorf and his sister Helga and a helmet were very close as brothers and sisters and she was taking him to the train station leaving the house they had a tall 150 year old grandfather's clock she told me and nobody could wind it without having to get up on a chair and helmet turned to her as he was walking out to the train station and said oh let me wind it and he reached up round it and on the last turn the spring broke on the clock and they didn't say a word to each other they just drove in silence at the train station fully aware that that was probably the last time they were gonna see each other the you 8:53 took on supplies and on February 24th 1945 24-year old captain helmet forms Dorf left Norway bound for the east coast of the United States his operational area because of Allied hunter-killer groups such as the crow attacks group farms Dorf probably ran submerged most of the time using his snorkel to avoid detection the u 853 crossed the Atlantic to the coast of Maine on April 23rd 1945 Eagle boat 56 suddenly exploded and sunk taking 49 of her crew with her the Navy said it was due to a boiler explosion but attorney Paul montón from Massachusetts prove that the you 853 had sunk err the next day a Navy frigate USS Muskegon made sonar contact and attacked you 853 but again moby-dick escaped on May 4th admiral Durance commander of u-boat headquarters sends out a message to cease all hostilities and whether the 8:53 ever received that message is a mystery on May 5 we already ceased all actions by order of units if he didn't get that order via radio transmission he was prepared for it because we had preliminaries that cautioned all captains several days before the final order was given we will cautioned not to act [Music] all of us believe that there must be a turn of the events because you could not possibly believe in a defeat although it was absolutely imminent you still did not believe it and since these boys were out of contact with headquarters they were still in process by this thought and to leave and we are following the captain naturally freely interactions on May 5th one day before the war ended you 853 cruising at periscope depth two miles off point Judith Rhode Island torpedoed and sunk the steamship Black Point the stern section sink immediately with 11 crew members and one Navy gunner the bow section followed about 25 minutes later Captain Charles Pryor master of the Black Point remembers the day vividly so I took out my cigarette and I was going to light it but whether I ever did or not I couldn't tell you maybe I swallowed the darn thing because that's when they'd hit the fan and hail everything the clock came off the bulkhead the barometer fell off the windows shattered the doors blew open and the pilothouse and immediately you could smell cordite you know because it blew the whole Stern off 12 men went down with the black point and 34 were rescued taken to Point Judith life-saving station where they were issued new clothing fed and sent to Boston I got quite a few letters there and my odds and ends from different folks you know wanting to know if it was so or is it possible that they could have survived and those are hard letters to write at 7:30 p.m. the warships reached the area they thought that the 853 would be in Atherton because of her superior sonar team was given the lead followed by the mulberry the Aronson was still an hour away I just used my experience as to what what he would do and he would get out into a little deeper water and play possum which is what he did and by fantastic good luck we found him right off at 8:14 p.m. Atherton picked up a sonar contact and determine that the sonar contact was moving slowly away at a heading of 90 degrees at 8:29 p.m. Atherton dropped 13 depth charges set on magnetic the center one exploded indicating it had struck metal Atherton then made a second attack using Hedgehog's after the second attack contact was lost and re-established at 11:33 p.m. all three destroyers now joined in the attack I think he was badly damaged to begin with and in other words I think he would have moved from fatherhood because he could there was little that could be done aboard that you 8:53 she was in shallow water 130 feet at nowhere to hide it is unclear how long the u-boats sailors survived the bombing continues that night with additional forces joining the attack there were even two dirigibles from Lakehurst New Jersey attacking the crippled u 853 at 10:45 a.m. the attacks stopped when the captains have floated to the surface here the object was to crack the pressure hull so the 853 could no longer come to the surface and [ __ ] in 1972 27 years after the end of world war ii and the sinking of the u 853 captain bill Palmer's spent a year searching for the missing u-boat at the time no one went there and the exact location had to be refound if you notice on the chart there's an area east of Block Island that says unexploded depth charges in May 1945 and the u-boat lays on the outside of that circle and 126 feet of water to be exact when I first found it we have to keep in mind that electronics were very very primitive there was no there were no GPS as a matter of fact all that we had and and at first I didn't I didn't have it was a Loran to look for a wreck something 200 feet long on the ocean floor 10 12 15 miles offshore became extremely difficult the first time that I found it it was just an absolute rush it was the excitement was just unbelievable I couldn't believe that I actually found it got a mark on my machine and when I got that peek immediately I threw over a Clorox jug with a hundred and forty feet of line on it circled the jug till I got on another mark then grappled into it and I still refuse to believe that I had actually found this now going down the anchor line I mean the excitement was just incredible was myself and another fellow [Music] and when I saw this submarine coming into view like the excitement again was just just outrageous I think I covered that whole submarine in about five minutes I swim well like I was possessed to the bow I swam to the stern back to the Anchor lining up it was uh it was amazing I think I even cherished the rust I had on my wetsuit is being part of the u-boat what amazes me is his number one how a 24 year old kid can be captain but 250 foot submarine in charge of 50 plus men and number two why he would elect to torpedo an aging coal freighter the day before World War two ended and that just baffles me for all these years I know if I was him and they said that cease hostilities all hostilities and the order was sent out four days before the UH the war ended had I been him I would have surrendered to the harbor master of Block Island and bought a round with whatever I had on board the USS penguin was a Navy salvage ship also equipped for submarine rescue should there be anyone still alive aboard the u85 3 the crew of the penguin believing the war was over celebrates a bit prematurely pictures were taken alcohol was consumed who'd thought that they'd get the call to go to sea the very next day hardhat diver Clary Edwards tells of that day 910 vessels in the stories of all kinds of and of course they made way for us as soon as we get the word too late a four-point more we went that what about land a four point one Clary Edwards getting suited up on the deck of the penguin in preparation to dive the you heed five three the divers goal was the fine the you eat five threes logbooks they do know the main thing was to get in and get the log that's what our main operation was supposed to be all about they had tried to get bodies out of the escape trunk and they were jammed in there so tight they're only supposed to handle four and they was they clearly there were six in there jammed and they were trying to get one body out and they that's why are they said Bachman Downey's small man they thought maybe he could wheel him out but they finally did get one bar a guy by the name of Hoffman they put a light around him you can see that and the pigs around us but not even round his shoulders they put around his neck and haul them up that way they had to let all of the clothes on leather pants leather jacket a little black bowtie aluminum boats I painted black you know it's very primal a and boots let the booty they sent the body to Washington but they determined it was no water in her lungs and that everybody get killed by concussion it says we didn't make any other research dives honor because we were told stay away unexplored with depth charges the object here was to open up the hatch and get inside that boat and they try to get the ships locked to see what boat it was and you know what they were doing where they were doing it now this is our mission today is to see if we can find a lot take a look for as I descend the water takes on an emerald green color an ambient light starts to fade at 80 feet the top of the you 850 threes conning tower comes into view round opening leads into the conning tower where the periscopes are housed and the attack was planned and carried out i dropped to the deck on the starboard side here is one mortal wound a giant hole in the deck probably caused by hedgehog [Music] my partner and I are going to start to explore the interior of this once mighty hunter as I said before it's a tight squeeze if you're claustrophobic don't try it I lift my pressure gauges over my head and finally and I say finally managed to squeeze inside once inside I acclimate myself then start to move forward to explore the forward torpedo room bill signals me he's okay I'll then swim through the bulkhead being careful not to get hung up on pipe or conduit to my immediate left is a torpedo in its rack awaiting the order to be loaded thank God it never came still moving forward the two top tubes come into view the starboard one has a girl's name written on Hana Varla [Music] the doorway in front of us leads to the galley on either side of the door the steel has almost rotted away leaving just a frame in the NCO quarters aboard the u8 53 the crew is still present these young men ranged in age from eighteen to twenty-two years old I slowly keep moving astern as I do so I have to squeeze through these narrow door openings making sure not to get hung up in front of me is a doorway that leads into the captain's in officer's quarters before entering I turned to my left and I wonder how this one still did the cooking for 50 plus men looking to my right still more of the crews visible moving into officer country it's a total mess one has to proceed with extreme caution here I look at collapsed lockers and miscellaneous piping the silt in this area is three or four feet thick once you disturb this fine silt your visibility goes to absolute zero and now you have to feel your way out swimming into the control room directly in front of me is the periscope well as well as piles of 20 millimeter and 37 millimeter ammunition to my left is the Plainsman station not much room to move around on the deck is an ammunition container and behind it is the attack periscope this ammunition container contains 20 millimeter rounds it was once bolted to the wall we're looking at were the captain set looking into the periscope this is where the attack was planned and carried out backing out I look up into the conning tower and beyond passing over the piles of ammunition I work my way slowly towards the diesel room the only reason I can see for the piles of ammunition is that she intended the fight once she was on the surface and the hatches were thrown open upon entering the diesel room I checked my air supply before continuing to explore this hatch sits between the two diesel engines came out on deck just behind the deck gun it was used for loading supplies in front and above are the main air induction valves to the outside of the boat when he ordered to dive was given these valves or sponge shut thus preventing sea water from entering the boat swimming out of the hall into the sand I find an unexploded Hedgehog not to be touched I swim to the very stern and sub and drop into the sand this large hole in front of the conning tower is the one that diver Clery Edwards spoke of this hole is directly on top of the sound room and Radio Shack this has got to be the hole that sunk this vessel a quick check of my air supply and I realize that it's time to start heading towards the surface it's a long way to the surface we've been on the bottom for a while and we're gonna have to decompress and then finally we could start to move towards the surface again ascending very slowly [Music] we're all on the line so what's coming up now fantastic that was really good that was great thanks cap you got a man well we didn't find the logbook but there's always another day another way on this dive we didn't find a logbook but that does not mean that it's not there I mean it's absolutely amazing I have found paper on this record charts books and after 40 50 60 years once you restore it they're still legible I think that duh reloading their firm store did what he did because as the people in u-boat said he had a sore throat and a sore throat meant that he wanted something to wear around his neck an Iron Cross a Knight's Cross and as of yet he had not earned it and it's based on what a dear friend of mine Hans gurgler who is the control room engineer on the 505 once told me he was trying to get something to put around his neck he was trying to get the Knight's Cross and I don't think that it's worth wearing a knight's cross when I endangered my whole crew successful u-boat commanders were treated like heroes forms Dorf must have seen scenes like these it's possible that the young ambitious forms Dorf wanted to be recognized as a hero in the knight's cross was the symbol for it he was young ambitious and he wanted to excel and unfortunately he used his crew to do it teach all action and acknowledge which they were supposed to acknowledge the the Met receipt of the message many of them did but not this monkey this rums Dolph or whatever it was he in fact they hadn't had word from him since he left no way so and they won't hear from him yet either he said to the summers that he was leaving on Patrol and summers said to him listen the war's nearly at an end he got all good boys do not be frivolous with the crew make sure you bring them home and the sad thing is here they sit to this day still waiting to go home [Music] [Music]

Channel: Gregory Pettys

Views: 541,810

Rating: 4.7146893 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: haUO2chYB-o

Length: 30min 27sec (1827 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 12 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/shamanthesky]

Wow I wasn't expecting human remains

[u/betweentwosuns]

After they were damaged and under attack from so many destroyers, would they have been able to surface and surrender (assuming they physically could surface)?