The U-853

[AXL72]

Anybody ever hear of or dove the U-853?

It is on he east coast (NY / NJ) in 130 ft water depth. Apparantly it was the last "rogue" U-Boat that was also probably the most bombarded with explosives / depth charges in world war II.

Anybody have information? I did a search here on SB and came up short.

Here is a link:

http://www.aquaexplorers.com/u-853_shipwreck.htm

 

[PerroneFord]

I thought it was in Rhode Island???

 

[Gilldiver]

Look for the thread "U-853 A Look Inside."

I put posted a compartment by compartment tour of the wreck.

 

[wreckedinri]

This is the thread that Gilldiver is refering to:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=182520

His excellent description of the wreck starts at post #60, but there is some good information throughout the thread.

Here's a short clip of a look inside the u-boat: http://www.secretsquirreldivers.com/includes.html/u853.wmv

And yes, it is off the coast of Rhode Island at: 41-13.594 x 71-25.126.

 

[AXL72]

Thanks guys!.....bloody search engine cannot deal with 853 or U-853, for some odd reason.

 

[LG Diver]

When watching the video clip posted above I was struck by the presence of human remains on this ship. I have to believe that if a US vessel that had been sunk during WWII was discovered (especially at recreational diving depths) the US government would be all over it recovering the remains of crew members and giving them a proper burial ceremony. Why isn't this done by the German government? It seems very disrespectful to me that they would allow the remains to lay there where any diver can disturb them. If I was a family member of one of the crew members lost on that ship and I saw video posted on the internet of divers exploring the ship in this way I'd be furious. I'm not implying that divers have disturbed remains in any way, but it still seems very disrespectful to the crew and their sacrifice to leave them there. Am I off on this? Have the remains since been recovered?

 

[wreckedinri]

When watching the video clip posted above I was struck by the presence of human remains on this ship. I have to believe that if a US vessel that had been sunk during WWII was discovered (especially at recreational diving depths) the US government would be all over it recovering the remains of crew members and giving them a proper burial ceremony. Why isn't this done by the German government? It seems very disrespectful to me that they would allow the remains to lay there where any diver can disturb them. If I was a family member of one of the crew members lost on that ship and I saw video posted on the internet of divers exploring the ship in this way I'd be furious. I'm not implying that divers have disturbed remains in any way, but it still seems very disrespectful to the crew and their sacrifice to leave them there. Am I off on this? Have the remains since been recovered?

There have been numerous discussions about what you are saying. Most recently in this thread in the New England Lobster Divas sub-section. http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=182520

Dennis

 

[MSilvia]

Thanks guys!.....bloody search engine cannot deal with 853 or U-853, for some odd reason.

Try searching for U853, you'll probably have better luck.

 

[LG Diver]

There have been numerous discussions about what you are saying. Most recently in this thread in the New England Lobster Divas sub-section. http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=182520

Dennis

Thanks Dennis. Very interesting thread.

-John

 

[Gilldiver]

When watching the video clip posted above I was struck by the presence of human remains on this ship. I have to believe that if a US vessel that had been sunk during WWII was discovered (especially at recreational diving depths) the US government would be all over it recovering the remains of crew members and giving them a proper burial ceremony. Why isn't this done by the German government? It seems very disrespectful to me that they would allow the remains to lay there where any diver can disturb them. If I was a family member of one of the crew members lost on that ship and I saw video posted on the internet of divers exploring the ship in this way I'd be furious. I'm not implying that divers have disturbed remains in any way, but it still seems very disrespectful to the crew and their sacrifice to leave them there. Am I off on this? Have the remains since been recovered?

Unless prodded hard the German Government and Navy would rather forget the Nazi years (1935-1945). As far as the wrecks go, they will make some noise about not diving the war graves but have never made a formal protest on any of the U-boat war losses that are dove in the US (853, 85, 701, 352). In fact, NOAA asked the Germans to formally ask NOAA to protect the U-701, and the Germans never carried through. NOAA would have immediately put the same restrictions on the U-701 as are on the USS Monitor. As the U-701 is in international waters, NOAA can not unilaterally act on the Germans behalf. They have to be requested.

As for the US, we are not moving to recover any remains from any of the 3 US Subs that have recently been found, I doubt that we ever will. In my opinion the real reason is the costs that such recovers would entail. The budgets just are not there so you will get a lot of self serving lip service about “not disturbing the graves” when it really is “we don’t got the bucks, so don’t do anything that costs us anything.”