Unterseeboot 215

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Unterseeboot 215 (U-215) was a Type VIID submarine of the Kriegsmarine. Her keel was laid down 15 November 1940 by Germaniawerft in Kiel. She was commissioned on 22 November 1941 with Kapitänleutnant Fritz Hoeckner in command.

U-215 conducted one patrol, sinking one 7191-ton ship. On 3 July 1942, while attempting to mine the harbor at Boston, Massachusetts, she interrupted her stealthy mission to torpedo SS Alexander Macomb, which was carrying tanks and guns to Europe. U-215 was immediately detected by the British trawler HMS Le Tigre, depth charged, and sunk with all hands on the Georges Bank in about 90 meters of water some 200 kilometers south of Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

The wreck of U-215 was found by a Canadian dive team in July 2004 with live naval mines aboard and the remains of all 49 crew members. The wreck was located with the aid of local fishermen who had kept accurate records of the positions where their nets had been snagged.

U-215 was one of six U-boats of its kind, equipped with special tubes that could hold mines. Four of the five tubes are still sealed.

According to Jak Showell, a naval historian from Folkestone, England, and member of the U-Boat Archiv in Germany, there were 1,171 U-boats commissioned during World War II, but only 859 were deployed for battle, and three-fourths of them — 648 — were sunk or captured at sea. Only 321 U-boats attacked and caused damage to allied ships. All military ships found at sea remain the property of the country of origin, so that the U-boats found in the Atlantic still belong to the German government. The policy is to leave the ships where found and sites are considered war graves.

[edit] External links

CBC News Story [1]
USA Today Report [2]
Shipwreck Central [3]