Unterseeboot 853

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U-853 and crew
U-853 and crew
USS Moberly launches a hedgehog weapon against U-853
USS Moberly launches a hedgehog weapon against U-853
Hedgehog charges detonate on the ocean floor
Hedgehog charges detonate on the ocean floor

Unterseeboot 853 (U-853) was a Type IXC/40 submarine of the Kriegsmarine. Her keel was laid down on August 21, 1942 by AG Weser of Bremen. She was commissioned on 25 June 1943 with Kapitänleutnant Helmut Sommer in command. U-853 conducted three patrols, sinking two ships totaling 5783 tons. She was known to her crew as der Seiltänzer ("the Tightrope Walker"). Her emblem was a yellow shield with a red horse.

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[edit] North Atlantic Ocean operations

From May to June 1944, U-853 was assigned to weather-watching duty. On May 25, 1944 U-853 spotted the Queen Mary, loaded with American troops and supplies, and submerged to attack, but was outrun by the much larger and faster ship.[1] As she surfaced in the Queen Mary's wake, U-853 was attacked by Fairey Swordfish aircraft from merchant aircraft carriers MV Ancylus and MV Empire MacKendrick.[2] The U-boat took no significant damage, and returned fire, hitting all three aircraft. The planes were able to return to their carrier, but after recovery, one was deemed a total loss and was jettisoned.

Meanwhile, the escort carrier USS Croatan (CVE-14) had been hunting weather boats for nearly a month and had already sunk U-488 and U-490. She now turned her attentions to U-853. That U-boat, however, proved so elusive that Croatan's crew nicknamed their prey "Moby Dick."[1] On June 17, after ten days of hunting, Huff-Duff (HF/DF, high frequency direction finding) picked up a weather report from the U-853 only 30 miles away.[1] Within minutes, two FM-1 Wildcat fighters strafed the submarine, killing two crewmen, [1] Bootsmann Kurt Schweichler and Maschinengefreiter Karl-Heinz Löffler, and wounding 12 other men. Commander Helmut Sommer suffered 28 shrapnel and bullet wounds, yet still managed to give the order to submerge, in all likelihood saving his submarine from being destroyed by allied bombers.[1]

The three weeks of being hunted placed an enormous strain on U-853's crew. Oberleutnant zur See Helmut Frömsdorf took command of the boat on June 18, and returned to Lorient, where Kptlt. Sommer and a large number of the crew was declared unfit for duty. On July 10, Sommer was formally relieved by Oblt. Otto Wermuth, but the boat remained in port until August 27, when Korvettenkapitän Günter Kuhnke, Commander of the 10th Flotilla, took command for a transit to Flensburg, arriving October 14. Kuhnke then took over command of the 33rd Flotilla, relinquishing command to Oblt. Helmut Frömsdorf, who would take the U-boat on her final patrol. Before departure, U-853 was fitted with a shnorchel, a retractable air intake and exhaust that allowed the ship to remain submerged while running her diesel engines.[1] The shnorchel reduced the need to spend dangerous periods on the surface recharging batteries.[1]

On April 23, 1945 U-853 sank USS Eagle 56 (PE-56), which was towing targets for United States Navy dive-bombers just off the coast of Maine.[3]

[edit] Battle of Point Judith

On May 5, 1945, Commander in Chief of Submarines (Befehlshaber der Unterseeb) Karl Dönitz ordered all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases, commending them, "You have fought like lions!" U-853, lying in wait off Point Judith, Rhode Island, for unknown reasons failed to execute that order. Soon after, her torpedo struck SS Black Point, a collier underway for Boston. Within 15 minutes, Black Point had capsized in 95 feet of water, the last US-flagged merchant ship sunk in World War II. Twelve men died, while 34 crew members were rescued. One of the rescuing ships, SS Kamen, sent a report of the torpedoing to authorities. The US Navy organized a "hunter-killer" group that included four American warships:

The group discovered U-853 bottomed in 18 fathoms (33 m), and dropped depth charges and hedgehogs during a 16 hour attack. At first the sub attempted to flee, and then tried to hide by lying still. Both times it was found by sonar.[5]

The next morning May 6, 1945 two blimps from Lakehurst, New Jersey, K-16 and K-58 joined the attack, locating oil slicks and marking suspected locations with smoke and dye markers. K-16 also attacked with 7.2-inch rocket bombs. Finally, after numerous depth charge and hedgehog attacks from Atherton and Moberly, planking, life rafts, a chart tabletop, clothing, and an officer's cap floated to the surface indicating the destruction with all hands, 55 officers and men, of the second to last U-boat sunk during World War II.[6]

[edit] Wreck

U-853 lies 7 miles east of Block Island in 130 feet of water. Recreational divers first visited the wreck in 1953. At least two died over the next 45 years, [7] and another perished in 2005.[8]

In 1968, with the permission of the German government, a team dove to the wreck of U-853 and brought up her 20mm flak cannon. The anti-aircraft gun was donated to Delaware Technical & Community College, where it was essentially abandoned and allowed to become overgrown with weeds. In April 2004, it was "rediscovered" and donated to the Fort Miles Historical Association. The cannon is in excellent condition, having been rigged for dive and undamaged by the attack that sunk U-853.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Underwood, Lamar (2005). The Greatest Submarine Stories Ever Told. Globe Pequot, p. 184-185. ISBN 1592287336. 
  2. ^ Drumm, Russell (2001). The Barque of Saviors. Houghton Mifflin Books, p.9. ISBN 0395983673. 
  3. ^ Puleo, Stephen (2005). Due to Enemy Action: The True World War II Story of the USS Eagle 56. Globe Pequot, 5. ISBN 1592287395. 
  4. ^ U-853. uscg.mil. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
  5. ^ Robert M. Downie (1998). Block Island—The Sea. Book Nook Press. , page 197
  6. ^ Robert M. Downie (1998). Block Island—The Sea. Book Nook Press. , pages 197-198
  7. ^ Robert M. Downie (1998). Block Island—The Sea. Book Nook Press. , page 194
  8. ^ Probe into scuba instructor death could take two months. cdnn.info. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.

[edit] External links