The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Is There a German U-boat at the Bottom of a Canadian River?

From the July 25, 2012, CBC News "German U-boat may be at bottom of Labrador River: Divers believe they have located WWII submarine 100 kilometers from ocean.:

Two years ago, searchers using side-scanning sonar looking for three men lost over Muskrat Falls believe they found a submarine in the Churchill River.

It is unclear how it ended up so far from the open water.  During World War II this was a strategically important site as there was a US Air base there.  The German government says it is possible it is theirs as there are still more than a dozen U-boats unaccounted for from the war.

It is known that German U-boats were active off Newfoundland and Labrador.  In 1942, a German torpedo sank the ferry SS Caribou on a run between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Port aux Basques, killing 136 people.

The U-587 fired three torpedoes at St. John's in early 1942.  Two of them hit the cliffs below the city's Cabot Tower.

U-boats sank four ore carriers off nearby Bell Island in late 1942, killing more than 60 men.

When the war ended,  U-190 surrendered to Canadian forces and sailed into Bay Bulls, just southof St. John.  Its periscope is still at Crow's Nest Officers Club in downtown St. John.

I Have to Wonder If They Did Find a Sunken U-boat?  --GreGen

No comments:

Post a Comment