Everything about U-853 totally explained
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.
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. 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. 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."
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.
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.
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, and another perished in 2005.
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.
Further Information
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