German submarine U-853

Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsTemplate:Infobox service record

German submarine U-853 was a Type IXC/40 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. Her keel was laid down on 21 August 1942 by DeSchiMAG AG Weser of Bremen. She was commissioned on 25 June 1943 with Kapitänleutnant Helmut Sommer in command. U-853 saw action during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. She conducted three patrols, sinking two ships totalling Template:GRT and 430 tons.

On her final patrol, U-853 was sent to harass United States coastal shipping. She destroyed Template:USS near Portland, Maine. Just days before Germany's surrender, U-853 torpedoed and sank the collier Black Point during the Battle of Point Judith. The day before Germany surrendered, American warships quickly found U-853 and sank her Template:Convert east of Block Island, Rhode Island, resulting in the loss of her entire crew.

The submerged U-853 rests in Template:Convert of water and the site is a popular deep sea diving site.

Design

German Type IXC/40 submarines were slightly larger than the original Type IXCs. U-853 had a displacement of Template:Convert when at the surface and Template:Convert while submerged.Template:Sfn The U-boat had a total length of Template:Convert, a pressure hull length of Template:Convert, a beam of Template:Convert, a height of Template:Convert, and a draught of Template:Convert. The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of Template:Convert for use while surfaced, two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of Template:Convert for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two Template:Convert propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to Template:Convert.Template:Sfn

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of Template:Convert and a maximum submerged speed of Template:Convert.Template:Sfn When submerged, the boat could operate for Template:Convert at Template:Convert; when surfaced, she could travel Template:Convert at Template:Convert. U-853 was fitted with six Template:Convert torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and two at the stern), 22 torpedoes, one [[10.5 cm SK C/32 naval gun|Template:Convert SK C/32 naval gun]], 180 rounds, and a [[3.7 cm SK C/30|Template:Convert SK C/30]] as well as a [[2 cm FlaK 30|Template:Convert C/30]] anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of forty-eight.Template:Sfn

Armament

FLAK weaponry

U-853 was armed with a single 3.7 cm Flakzwilling M43U gun on the LM 42U mount. The LM 42U mount was the most common mount used with the 3.7 cm Flak M42U. The 3.7 cm Flak M42U was the marine version of the 3.7 cm Flak used by the Kriegsmarine on Type VII and Type IX U-boats. U-853 had two 2cm Flak C38 in a M 43U Zwilling mount with short folding shield mounted on the upper Wintergarten.<ref>Base on war-time photographs.</ref>

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  A single 3.7 cm Flak M42U gun on the LM 42U mount.
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  2 cm Flak C38 in a M 43U Zwilling mount with short folding shield.

Service history

U-853 was built by DeSchiMAG AG Weser of Bremen. Ordered on 5 June 1941, her keel was laid down on 21 August 1942, the submarine was launched on 11 March 1943 and was commissioned on 25 June 1943.<ref name="uboatnet"/>Template:Sfn On commissioning, U-853 joined the 4th U-boat Flotilla based at Stettin, Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland) for training of her crew, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Helmut Sommer.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Germans nicknamed the U-boat der Seiltänzer ("the Tightrope Walker"), and her crew painted an emblem of a yellow shield with a red horse on her sail.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

First patrol

In 1 April 1944, U-853 transferred to the 10th U-boat Flotilla for active service.<ref name="uboatnet"/>Template:Sfn U-853 left Bergen in Norway on her first war patrol on 29 April 1944, with the submarine assigned the duty of weather-reporting.Template:Sfn German intelligence believed that weather conditions in the Atlantic could be used to help predict the timing of an Allied invasion of Europe.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> On 25 May 1944 U-853 spotted Template:RMS, loaded with American troops and supplies. The U-boat submerged to attack, but was outrun by the much larger and faster ship.<ref name="greatest">Template:Cite book</ref> As she surfaced in Queen Mary's wake U-853 was attacked by Fairey Swordfish aircraft from the British merchant aircraft carriers Template:Ship and Template:Ship.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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 jettisoned.<ref name="uboat2pat">Template:Cite web</ref>

The escort carrier Template:USS had been hunting weather boats for nearly a month and had already sunk Template:GS and Template:GS. Intercepted radio transmissions led Croatan and six destroyers to search for U-853.<ref name="Puleo 2005 17">Template:Cite book</ref> The U-853 proved so elusive that Croatan's crew nicknamed their prey "Moby Dick."<ref name="greatest"/> After ten days of hunting, on 17 June Huff-Duff (HF/DF, high frequency direction finding) picked up a weather report from U-853 only Template:Convert away.<ref name="greatest"/> Within minutes two FM-1 Wildcat fighters strafed the submarine,<ref name="greatest"/> killing 2 men and wounding 12 others. Sommer suffered 28 shrapnel and bullet wounds yet still managed to give the order to submerge. In all likelihood Sommer saved his submarine from being destroyed by Allied bombers.<ref name="greatest"/>

Three weeks of pursuit from 25 May until 17 June placed an enormous strain on U-853Template:'s crew. Twenty-three-year-old Oberleutnant zur See Helmut Frömsdorf took command of the boat on 18 June (his first command)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and returned to Lorient in northwest France. On 10 July Sommer was formally relieved by Oberleutnant zur See Otto Wermuth.<ref name="uboatnet"/>

Second patrol

The boat remained in port until 27 August. Decorated veteran Korvettenkapitän Günter Kuhnke, Commander of the 10th U-boat Flotilla, took command for her second patrol.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> U-853 operated this time in the Western Approaches off the British Isles, but in a period of seven weeks scored no successes. On completion she did not return to Lorient, but continued to Flensburg, Germany, arriving 14 October.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kuhnke assumed command of the 33rd U-boat Flotilla upon arriving at Flensburg. He relinquished command of U-853 back to Frömsdorf, who took the U-boat on her third and final patrol. Before departure U-853 was fitted with a Schnorchel, a retractable air intake and exhaust that allowed the ship to remain submerged while running her diesel engines.<ref name="greatest"/> The Schnorchel reduced the need to spend dangerous periods on the surface recharging batteries.<ref name="greatest"/>

Last patrol

On 23 February 1945 Germany sent U-853 on her third war patrol to harass US coastal shipping. Under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Helmut Frömsdorf, U-853 did not sink any targets during the first weeks of her patrol. Her crossing of the Atlantic was slow because she used her Schnorchel to remain submerged to avoid being spotted by Allied aircraft.<ref name="Puleo 2005 17"/> On 1 April 1945 U-853 was ordered to the Gulf of Maine.<ref name="nedn2">Template:Cite web</ref>

On 23 April she fatally torpedoed Template:USS near Portland, Maine.<ref name="uscg">Template:Cite web</ref> Eagle 56, a World War I-era patrol boat, was towing targets for a United States Navy dive-bomber training exercise Template:Convert off Cape Elizabeth when she exploded amidships and sank. Only 13 of the 67 crew survived. That same day Template:USS dropped nine depth charges on a suspected submarine.<ref name="uboatnet"/> The next day Template:USS made sonar contact and attacked U-853, but failed to destroy her.<ref name="nedn2"/>

Although several survivors claimed to have seen a submarine sail with yellow and red insignia, a Navy inquiry attributed the PE-56 sinking to a boiler explosion. The Navy reversed its findings in 2001 to acknowledge that the sinking was due to hostile fire and awarded Purple Hearts to the survivors and next-of-kin of the deceased.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Battle of Point Judith

On 5 May 1945, Reichspräsident of Nazi Germany Karl Dönitz ordered all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases. U-853 was lying in wait off Point Judith, Rhode Island, at the time. According to the US Coast Guard, U-853 either did not receive that order or, less likely, ignored it.<ref name="uscg"/> Soon after, her torpedo blew off the stern of Black Point, a Template:Convert collier underway from New York to Boston. Within 15 minutes Black Point had sunk in Template:Convert of water less than Template:Convert south of Point Judith.<ref name="nedn">Template:Cite web</ref> She was the last US-flagged merchant ship lost in World War II. Twelve men died and 34 crew members were rescued. One of the rescuing ships, Yugoslav freighter Kamen, sent a report of the torpedoing to authorities. The US Navy organized a "hunter-killer" group that included four American warships: the destroyer Template:USS, the destroyer escorts Template:USS and Template:USS, and the patrol frigate Template:USS.<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>

The group discovered U-853 bottomed in Template:Convert, and dropped depth charges and hedgehogs during a 16-hour attack. At first, the U-boat attempted to flee, then tried to hide by lying still. Both times it was found by sonar.<ref name="BI">Template:Cite book</ref> On the morning of 6 May 1945 two K-Class 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. Numerous depth charge and hedgehog attacks from Atherton and Moberly resulted in planking, life rafts, a chart tabletop, clothing, and an officer's cap floating to the surface. U-853 was one of the last U-boats sunk during World War II<ref name="BI" /> and the last to be sunk in US waters. (Template:GS was sunk the same day in the North Atlantic.) Atherton and Moberly received joint credit for the kill.<ref name="uboatnet"/>

Wreck

Synthetic aperture sonar imagery of the German submarine U-853.

U-853 lies Template:Convert east of Block Island in Template:Convert of water. The US Coast Guard pinpoints the location of the wreck at Template:Coord. Most of the 55 crew member bodies remain within the hull, which is a war grave.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is one of the more popular dive sites in Southern New England. The hull has depth charge blast holes: one forward of the conning tower at the radio room and another in the starboard side of the engine room. Entering the wreck is dangerous due to debris, sharp metal edges, and confined spaces.<ref name="nedn2" />

On 6 and 7 May 1945, Navy divers attempted to enter the wreck to recover the captain's safe and the papers within, but failed. Recreational divers first visited the site in 1953. In 1960 a recreational diver brought up a body from the wreck. This provoked former navy admirals and clergy to petition the US government for restrictions on disturbing the dead. The German crewman was buried with full military honors in Newport, Rhode Island.<ref name="nedn2"/>

As of 1998 at least two recreational divers have died from exploring the wreckage.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Stephen Hardick died in 2005 while filming the U-boat. He surfaced unconscious and could not be revived.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hardick, age 60, died as the result of saltwater drowning associated with poor health according to the Rhode Island Medical Examiner's office.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On October 26, 2022, a live depth charge was found near the wreckage by fishermen based out of Rhode Island. The depth charge contained 267 pounds of TNT which was set out to destroy the German U-boat.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Summary of raiding history

Date	Ship Name	Nationality	Tonnage<ref group=Note name=tonnage>Merchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.</ref>	Fate<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
23 April 1945	Template:USS	Template:Navy	430	Sunk
5 May 1945	Black Point	Template:Flag	5,353	Sunk

Bibliography

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External links

• US Coast Guard history of U-853
• Template:Usurped – A detailed and well referenced account of the battle.
• Template:Cite web