Gernmab WWI Submarine Discovered

MPH200

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German WWI Submarine Discovered

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...t-with-23-bodies-inside/ar-AAse3Hb?li=BBnb7Kz

A submarine used by Germany during World War I was found basically intact and with bodies of 23 people inside off the coast of Belgium.


Authorities said the UB II-type diver was found on the floor of the North Sea at about a 45 degree angle, between 82 to 98 feet below the surface. The boat is 88 feet long and nearly 20 feet wide.

“It’s quite amazing that we found something like this,” Western Flanders Gov. Carl Decaluew said. “The impact damage was at the front, but the submarine remains closed and there are 23 people still onboard.”

He said the U-boat was found by researchers but declined to provide information on the wreck’s location to prevent people from going near. He said the German ambassador was also contacted because “we need to see what [we] can do” with the remains.

While mostly intact, the vessel did sustain some damage at the front. It appears that the sub may have struck a mine with its upper deck while two torpedo tubes have been destroyed. A lower tube is intact and closed.

Around 18 German U-boats were stationed with the Flanders Flotilla in Bruges between 1915 and 1918. Thirteen of them were destroyed.


This wreck is the 11th found in Belgian waters. At least one more dive is required to determine which U-boat it is and it is believed to be one of three.

UB-II submarines were built in 1915 and 1916 and were able to dive to a depth of nearly 150 feet.

Allied warships and cargo ships were easy pickings for the German subs that were launched from Bruges, just across the English Channel.
 

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kingskid1611

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Read this earlier. I think its pretty interesting that is was intact and bodies were still there and not dust......
 

galenrog

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UB-II's had an official crew compliment of about 23. While the type is known, the registry is not. Since the submarine has not yet been entered by archaeologists, there is no way to know with any certainty how many sailors were aboard or the condition of their bodies.

Past time for more coffee.
 

capt dom

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UB-II's had an official crew compliment of about 23. While the type is known, the registry is not. Since the submarine has not yet been entered by archaeologists, there is no way to know with any certainty how many sailors were aboard or the condition of their bodies.

Past time for more coffee.

I bet they are all dead:headbang:
 

Jason in Enid

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I bet they are all dead:headbang:


picard.jpg
 

GB1

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ivan salis

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if she is as they said is mainly intact ...that means the men aboard her slowly died as the air ran out being too damaged to be able to surface ,,,a horrible way to go slowly dying with no hope of being saved
 

Jason in Enid

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if she is as they said is mainly intact ...that means the men aboard her slowly died as the air ran out being too damaged to be able to surface ,,,a horrible way to go slowly dying with no hope of being saved


Not necessarily. If they hit a mine, the pressure wave moving through the sub would be more than enough to kill everyone instantly.
 

Xraywolf

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if she is as they said is mainly intact ...that means the men aboard her slowly died as the air ran out being too damaged to be able to surface ,,,a horrible way to go slowly dying with no hope of being saved

Has happened all too often to all warring nations, of course we will never know the details of most because no one survived and wreck sites unknown.

One such incident were there were survivors to tell the sad tale was the USS Tang, one of the highest scoring subs in history.
Was on patrol and was sunk by its own errant torpedo - 9 survived the sinking and subsequent captivity, almost 80 died a very slow death [I read a book about it a few years ago, very traumatic reading]
The only good thing, the last guy who escaped said that most of the guys were so weak and delusional from the trauma of the sinking and subsequent, gradual oxygen deprivation that they just calmly said their goodbyes and laid down to die ,,, There was no mass panic or agonizing, violent struggles for survival - And odds are, is was like this on most sunken subs with survivors with no hope for escape.

Some of the survivors were blown off the bridge, but most of them actually escaped from 180 ft under, amazing. They had to undergo a decompression chamber before entering the water, one survivor reported that death itself could not have been much worse than that. One even made it up without any decompression but apparently went mad from the bends and was last seen swimming towards Japan.

Here is a Wiki summary, anyone interested in details can track down that book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tang_(SS-306)


At 02:30 on the morning of 25 October, the 24th and last torpedo (a Mark 18 electric torpedo) was fired. It broached and curved to the left in a circular run. Tang fishtailed under emergency power to clear the turning circle of the torpedo, but it struck her abreast the after torpedo room approximately 20 seconds after it was fired.[SUP][DANFS 1][/SUP] The explosion was violent, and men as far forward as the control room received broken limbs. The ship went down by the stern with the after three compartments flooded. Of the nine officers and men on the bridge, including O'Kane,[SUP][23][/SUP] three were able to swim through the night until picked up eight hours later. One officer escaped from the flooded conning tower and was rescued with the others.[SUP][24][/SUP][SUP][23][/SUP]
The submarine bottomed at 180 ft (55 m) and the thirty[SUP][23][/SUP] survivors crowded into the forward torpedo room as the aft compartments flooded, intending to use the forward escape trunk.[SUP][23][/SUP] Publications were burned, and all assembled in the forward room to escape. The escape was delayed by a Japanese patrol which dropped depth charges, and started an electrical fire in the forward battery. Beginning at 6:00 AM on 25 October, using the Momsen Lung, "the only known case" where it was used,[SUP][23][/SUP] thirteen men escaped from the forward torpedo room.[SUP][25][/SUP] By the time the last had exited, the heat from the battery fire was so intense, paint on the bulkhead was scorching, melting, and running down.[SUP][26][/SUP] Of the 13 men who escaped from the forward torpedo room, only five were rescued.[SUP][25][/SUP][SUP][27][/SUP] One sailor who was near the group of five but injured during the ascent was not rescued.[SUP][28][/SUP] Three who were on the bridge were rescued after swimming for 8 hours.[SUP][25][/SUP] Another survivor escaped the conning tower and used his pants as a flotation device.[SUP][25][/SUP] A total of 78 men were lost.[SUP][29][/SUP] Those who escaped the submarine were greeted in the morning by the sight of the bow of the transport sticking straight out of the water.[SUP][30][/SUP]
Nine survivors, including O'Kane, were picked up the next morning by Japanese frigate CD-34.[SUP][31][/SUP] Survivors of Tang's previous sinkings were on board, and they beat the men from Tang. O'Kane stated, "When we realized that our clubbing and kickings were being administered by the burned, mutilated survivors of our handiwork, we found we could take it with less prejudice."[SUP][21][/SUP] The nine captives were placed in a prison camp at Ōfuna until the end of the war, where they were interrogated by Japanese intelligence.[SUP][30][/SUP]
Tang was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 8 February 1945.[SUP][DANFS 1][/SUP]
 

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