Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought- provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

Category: Wrecks: WWII  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'U-Boats, WWII Submarines', 'Battleships'.

Divers get their fix with sunken ships - Wreck Diving
From oil rigs to half-frozen lakes, if it's divable, chances are that Bill Wilson has strapped a tank on and poked around. He's tallied over 4,000 dives, a couple of which were with Jacques Cousteau. As founder of California Wreck Divers, his mission is to discover and salvage artifacts because, "if we leave them down there, they will disappear." To Wilson, leaving these sunken treasures to decline in the saltwater would be a crime to nautical history. And with strong Pacific currents and heavy wave action, stuff doesn't last as long here as it would in the Caribbean.     [ dailybreeze :: 2008-04-27 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

5 sunken warships, submerged beneath the sea [photos]
As technology has advanced, we now have ghostly images of destroyed men-of-war. (4) The German WWII Battleship Bismarck was a terror on the high seas in the early part of WWII, sinking the HMS Hood and damaging the Prince of Wales. She was crippled by an aerial torpedo, and destroyed by a Royal Navy task force in May 1941. --- (2) In the last days of World War II, American Carrier Air Power was operating with impunity and U.S. wanted a Japanese Pearl Harbor. The place they chose was Truk, an island fortress with a major fleet. The photo is of a battle tank on the deck of a transport ship, over 60 years later.     [ environmentalgraffiti :: 2008-04-10 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

First pictures of the wreck of HMAS Sydney
The first pictures of a long lost shipwreck which sank during the Second World War killing 645 crew have released. Photos of HMAS Sydney were being taken by a remotely operated submersible deployed from the survey vessel Geosounder. Images show a gun turret on the Sydney with a shell hole clearly visible between the two guns.     [ thesun :: 2008-04-04 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Sydney wreck predictions close to mark - How wrecks are pinpointed
Kim Kirsner allowed himself some moments of joy when word came that the wreck of HSK Kormoran had been detected. He was led to his theoretical wreck location by a process which works out how human beings remember information, and how they express it. Years of research with John Dunn had put the theoretical location of the wreck to within 3 nautical miles of where it was found. They collectede 80 eyewitness statements from 20 crew members of the Kormoran. Statements were cross-checked and the language studied to make sure the Germans were giving accurate accounts.     [ postnewspapers :: 2008-03-21 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Warship HMAS Sydney found - Australia's maritime mystery solved
One wartime mystery has been solved with the discovery of the wreck of the battleship HMAS Sydney. The Sydney, a cruiser, was the biggest ship from any country to be sunk with all hands lost during World War Two. It was sunk by the German naval raider Kormoran, cloaked as a Dutch merchant ship, during a battle in Nov. 1941. The fate of HMAS Sydney, and why none of its crew survived, was "Australia's major maritime mystery" said the chief of the Australian navy, Vice Admiral Russ Shalders. HMAS Sydney was last seen limping over the horizon, streaming black smoke, by the crew of the Kormoran.     [ telegraph :: 2008-03-17 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Wreck of German World War II merchant raider Kormoran discovered
The wreckage of a German ship thought to have sunk the HMAS Sydney during World War II has been found off the Western Australian coast, increasing hopes that a wartime mystery will soon be solved. The German merchant raider Kormoran was discovered 150km west of Shark Bay - an important clue to concluding the search for the cruiser HMAS Sydney, which went down in November 1941 with the loss of all 645 on board after a furious battle. The HMAS Sydney was sunk in battle with the Kormoran while sailing to Australia from Sumatra but the location of the wreck was unknown.     [ afp :: 2008-03-16 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

The wreck of a Royal Navy destroyer HMS Hunter found in fjord in Norway
The wreck of a Royal Navy destroyer has been discovered in a Norwegian fjord, 68 years after she sank during the Battle of Narvik. HMS Hunter has stayed untroubled since April 1940 when she sank, killing 110 people. It was detected 305m under water by Norwegian mine control vessel Hnoms Tyr on a training mission. The site will be marked as a war grave. Major General Garry Robison said discovering HMS Hunter had been a "poignant moment". HMS Hunter was one of 2 Allied destroyers lost during the first Battle of Narvik, the Germans lost 4 destroyers.     [ bbc :: 2008-03-06 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Shipwreck hunter David Mearns sets sail for HMAS Sydney
World renowned shipwreck hunter David Mearns is positive he is a month away from solving one World War II Mystery: the location of HMAS Sydney, the Australian battleship that sank with all hands in 1941 after a battle with German raider the Kormoran. Mearns set off from Geraldton aboard the SV Geosounder, loaded with equipment and 67 years of questions about the Sydney and her 645 crew. The wreck hunter said studying German naval documents had enabled his team to guess the likely resting place of the Kormoran, and locating the German vessel would enable him to use it as a reference point.     [ thewest :: 2008-02-29 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Siblings travel to dive to the wreckage of the naval cruiser U.S.S. Houston
Jerry Ranger and Jolene Ranger-Stewart will travel to the Indonesia to dive to the wreckage of the U.S.S. Houston, a WWII naval cruiser sunk during the Sundra Strait Battle on March 1, 1942. The ship battled against a major Imperial Japanese Navy unit that bombed Pearl Harbor. The trip will be bittersweet because their dad, John W. Ranger, was a survivor of the battle. "I've learned about what he would never talk about. He spent 3-and-a-half years in 13 different POW camps. He also received a silver star for his bravery." No divers are allowed in the ship, but Jerry has been given permission to send in a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to photograph the interior.     [ nwfdailynews :: 2008-02-21 :: Tours - History and Battlefields ]

Auctioned: Model of ship that did not sink after torpedoed by German U-boat 111
A model of one of the shortest-lived ships in Whitby's marine history may get £7,000 when it is auctioned. The 4 feet 5 inches long model is of the ill-starred steam ship Barnby, launched in 1940 - only to be torpedoed 18 months later by German U-boat 111 on May 22,1942, in one of the most unusual nautical incidents of the World War 2. This was because the Barnby did NOT sink! She was complately filled with flour, which swelled up and kept her afloat, so no one quite knows where she lies. "Builder's models of this period are particularly sought-after... Early models have fine metal fittings, often silver or silver gilt and gunmetal or brass."     [ scarborougheveningnews :: 2008-02-19 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Adolf Hitler's 'lost fleet' found in Black Sea - Three German U-boats
The location of 3 German U-boats (U-19, U-20, U-23), "Hitler's lost fleet", has been discovered at the bottom of the Black Sea. The vessels, including one once commanded by U-boat ace Otto Kretschmer, formed part of the 30th Flotilla of 6 submarines, taken by road and river from Nazi Germany's Baltic port at Kiel to Constanta, the Romanian Black Sea port, to attack Russian shipping. In 2 years the fleet sank dozens of ships and lost 3 own u-boats. But in August 1944, Romania switched sides, leaving the 3 last vessels stranded. Mike Williams: "...these U-boats were all scuttled, so they should be intact, like a sealed tube. They are unique survivors of the war."     [ telegraph :: 2008-02-03 :: U-Boats : Submarines ]

Wreckage of scuttled Nazi ship Ussukuma identified off Argentine coast
Argentina's navy identified a wreck off the coast of Buenos Aires as the Ussukuma, a Nazi supply vessel that sank after a face-off with British warships in the early days of WWII. The Ussukuma, scuttled by its crew in Dec 1939, was carrying explosives for German warships, said historian Carlos De Napoli. "This is the first Nazi wreck to be id'd in Argentine waters in decades. We have at least 6 more Nazi ship and submarine wrecks waiting to be discovered." -- Professor of naval history Eric Grove: "Any German ship at sea after Sept 1939 could only operate as a fugitive. Standard procedure for those ships was to scuttle themselves if detected by enemy forces..."     [ bloomberg :: 2008-01-31 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Japanese Submarine I-52 had 2 tons of gold and other valuable cargo
"Battleground Atlantic: How the Sinking of a Single Japanese Submarine Assured the Outcome of World War II" by Richard Billings tells the story of the I-52, and the salvage efforts by Paul Tidwell. The I-52 carried with it the hopes of bringing victory to Japan. The cargo (gold and liquid opium) was to be used as payment for Nazi engineering that would help bring the Japanese submarine fleet up-to-date, and to bring back to Japan technology for a superweapon - thought to have been a radiological bomb. Billings cites decoded inventories that show uranium oxide aboard the I-52 to back up his argument that Japan was close to launching such a bomb against American targets.     [ montgomeryadvertiser :: 2008-01-28 :: U-Boats : Submarines ]

U-boat U-869 discovery brings some clarity to decades-old mystery
Richie Kohler wanted to become an astronaut. Instead, he became a diver, helping to reveal a World War II mystery. German submarine U-869 was believed to have been sunk near Morocco in 1945, but turned up in 1991 60 miles off the New Jersey coast. The case is covered in Robert Kurson's "Shadow Divers." Kohler was one of a group of divers who became involved with the mystery boat after a trawler snagged its net on the wreck. At the beginning it was believed the ship was an American submarine. The mystery intensified when diver John Chatterton recovered an artifact marked with 1942, an eagle and a swastika. "The Navy said there was no known wreck at that location."     [ app :: 2007-11-29 ]

Approval for German World War II U-boat U534 to resurface
Wirral council has approved Merseytravel's proposal to house a German World War II submarine U-534, previously an attraction at the Historic Warships Museum at Seacombe docks, at the Woodside Ferry Terminal. The u-boat was sunk during the war when, she was attacked by an RAF Liberator aircraft in 1945. 49 of the 52 crew members survived - 5 who escaped via a torpedo hatch as the submarine lay on the sea bed. Plans include the provision of a visitor exhibition centre, which will display some of the four-and-a-half tons of memorabilia that was found on U-534: an Enigma cipher machine, ammunition, uniforms, tools, charts and maps.     [ bbc :: 2007-10-23 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

An exploratory dive to assess the chances of recovering U-778
An exploratory dive to assess the chances of recovering a sunken U-boat is to take place. U-778, which did not see any war action, sank while being towed to Londonderry to be scrapped. Derry City Council plans to raise the Nazi submarine which lies 16 miles north west of Malin Head. The aim is to house the boat in a museum where people can get a glimpse of one of the iconic WWII vessels. There are about 150 of them lying off Malin Head - all vivid reminders of the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. Even in the murky depths the outline of the U-boat is quite clear - divers saying the aerials and periscopes are still intact.     [ bbc :: 2007-09-18 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Soviet sub SC305 found - Sank after being rammed by Finnish sub
A research team has discovered a Soviet submarine SC305 at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. It was sunk in 1942 by the Finnish navy during a World War II battle. Bjorn Rosenlof says the 8-member team, using sonar equipment, found the vessel at a depth of 136 metres between the Swedish east coast town of Grisslehamn and the Finnish Aland Islands. The sub is "in very good condition, aside from a hole in the hull where it was hit." All 38 crew members died when the submarine sank after being rammed and hit by cannon fire from a Finnish submarine. The military has been informed of the discovery, but it's unclear whether the submarine will be raised from the seabed.     [ canoe :: 2007-07-06 :: U-Boats : Submarines ]

U-864's mercury cargo posing growing threat
The fate of a Nazi U-boat that was torpedoed off the Norwegian coast hangs in the balance a debate what to do about a growing environmental threat. Japanese Tadao Yamato and Toshio Nakai were among the passengers on the U-864 en route from Nazi Germany to Japan with a toxic cargo of 1,857 flasks of mercury when the Royal Navy submarine Venturer torpedoed it on Feb. 9, 1945. When the U-boat went down, some of its mercury cargo leaked contaminating 30,000 sq. meters. The U-864 contained plans and parts various Messerschmitt aircraft, submarines and radar. Adolf Hitler hoped that boosting Japan would put greater pressure on the US and weaken Britain.     [ japantimes :: 2007-06-07 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

I've found HMAS Sydney - World War II maritime mystery
Marine archeologist Timothy Akers has claimed to have solved Australia's greatest naval mystery: the location of the wreck of HMAS Sydney. The cruiser is lying on the seabed off the coast off Western Australia, he says, citing satellite imagery. His claims are likely to raise questions why Australian governments have failed to find the place. Akers is prepared to provide the location for no charge. However, bad blood between wreck hunters and red tape is slowing the progress. Sydney was last seen on Nov 19, 1941, limping away ablaze after a battle with a disguised German raider Kormoran, which also sank. No Australian survived, but 317 Germans did.     [ ninemsn :: 2007-05-30 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Sunken German U-boat U-352 draws divers
Article no longer available from the original source.
When Heinz Richter visits the Olympus Dive Center in Morehead City, he talks about a wreck site that brings many divers to the area. But he stops short of taking the dive with them: His last trip to the ocean's bottom was 65 years ago, when the German U-boat on which he served was sunk off the coast of North Carolina. "One dive was enough for me." A replica of the U-352 is featured in the aquarium's 306,000-gallon Living Shipwreck exhibit. Richter was machinist aboard the sub when it met its fate on May 9, 1942. Richter willingly talks about the WWII sinking and isn't bothered by the sub artifact, a 20mm anti-aircraft gun, that sits on the dive center's deck.     [ jdnews :: 2007-05-09 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

WWII torpedo boat wreckage was tossed up from sea after earthquake
Wreckage from a World War II torpedo boat was tossed up from the sea in the Solomon Islands after a powerful 8.1 earthquake hit the area. The explosive-laden boat was exposed when reefs were pushed up 3 meters above sea level. The Solomons' coastline is still littered with military wrecks from World War II, including the torpedo patrol boat commanded by U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy's boat was sunk by a Japanese destroyer in the Blackett Strait in August 1943 off Gizo, the main town of western Solomon Islands. The Solomons' main island, Guadalcanal, was the scene of fierce WWII fighting.     [ military :: 2007-04-28 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

US explorers discover WW2 wreck in Burma jungle
3 amateur explorers from the U.S. have uncovered the wreckage of a downed American World War II plane in the jungles of northern Burma. Brenda Davidson, Nancy Nenow and Don Morley heard rumours of the aircraft from tribesmen on previous trips, and set off from the town of Hkamti armed with metal detectors on Jan 13. They found the wreck, which included parts of the plane's pumps, generator and landing gear, after trekking 13 days. "We didn't find the fuselage, so we could not guess what type of plane it was." Because the wreck was too heavy to carry away, they photographed it and wrote down a brand name found on a pump.     [ nationmultimedia :: 2007-02-19 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Toxic Nazi submarine U-864 to be buried at sea
A Nazi u-boat sunk off Norway at the end of world war II is to be buried in the sea bed so that its cargo of toxic mercury will not contaminate the coast. The U-864 submarine was sunk by allied forces off west Norway on Feb 9 1945, and is believed to hold 65 tonnes of mercury. The U-864 had been moving towards Japan with advanced weapons technology and was sunk in a battle with the British HMS Venturer sub. Despite villagers' demands for the hazard to be removed, minister said the wreck will be buried at sea, because raising it would involve risk of spreading mercury to new areas.     [ guardian :: 2007-02-14 :: U-Boats : Submarines ]

Sunken WWII sub USS Perch found by accident near Java
The wreck of WW2 diesel submarine USS Perch was discovered near Java, according to the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum, by a team hoping to photograph the wreck of the British cruiser Exeter. The news was welcome news to Robert Lents, who was a torpedoman when the Perch was sunk: "I got $35 still in my locker." On March 1, 1942, the Perch was attacked by an enemy convoy that was landing troops. Two Japanese destroyers forced the Perch to the bottom with depth charges, damaging the starboard engines. Two days later the Perch, unable to dive, was attacked by 2 cruisers and 3 destroyers. At that point, commander David Hurt ordered the Perch to be scuttled.     [ starbulletin :: 2007-01-22 :: U-Boats : Submarines ]

U-boats off the North-East - Submarine Wrecks of the UK
Covering the entire East Coast this meticulously-researched account has separate chapters for the North-East and Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The authors have pieced together the stories of the 16 U-boat wrecks so far located - 7 off the North-East coast, 9 off Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. They provide full technical details of the vessels, describe the events leading up to their loss, and list the victims, including, where available, those on ships attacked by the U-boats prior to their own destruction. The present state of the wreck, established by divers, completes the remarkable record.     [ thisishertfordshire :: 2006-12-27 :: U-Boats : Submarines ]

Graveyard of the Atlantic gives up secrets
The identities of 4 tankers sunk in World War 2 off North Carolina soon unraveled into a tangled mess. However, through the teamwork of several wreck divers, the true stories of these war casualties were revealed. The San Delfino was a 463-foot-long tanker - heavily armed at the outbreak of WWII, she boasted a 4-inch gun and a smaller 12-pound gun mounted on her stern, as well as two twin Marlin machine guns, one Lewis machine gun, and a Savage-Lewis machine gun. On April 9, 1942, the San Delfino was attacked by the u-boat U-203. A single torpedo struck the starboard side, igniting the cargo of 11,000 tons of aviation fuel.     [ womacknewspapers :: 2006-11-12 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Mystery submarine wrecks could be German U-boats
Wrecks of two mysterious submarines have been discovered off the coast of Orkney in an area where there were no reports of wartime sinkings. An Orkney diver speculated that the vessels might have been German U-boats sunk during World War 2. There were reports that the Royal Navy had depth-charged U-boats, but this took place several miles away. Grainy images of the submarines were captured using the latest 3-dimensional sonar device, but their identity are not known.     [ cdnn :: 2006-11-09 :: U-Boats : Submarines ]

Divers raise wreckage of German WWII Junkers-87 Stuka bomber
Greek military divers raised the wreckage of a German World War II Stuka bomber from the sea. The Junkers-87 dive-bomber was shot down in 1943 and will be displayed at the air force museum. Air force experts believe the plane was part of a Luftwaffe squadron operating from Rhodes that lost several Stukas to allied ships on Oct. 9, 1943. Fitted with a screaming siren for maximum shock effect, the gull-winged, single-engine Stuka was a feared symbol of Nazi military power. Out of some 6,000 aircraft produced 1936-1944, only two are intact in museums, while the wrecks of 3 more Stukas have been salvaged.     [ abcnews :: 2006-10-07 :: Aircrafts of WWII ]

Pictures of the sunk british WWII battleship in Scapa Flow
Underneath the massive hull of the HMS Royal Oak, the superstructure of the battleship lies crushed, with gun barrels buried in the sand. These are the clearest images yet of one of the most terrible naval tragedies in British history. The Dreadnought class warship, one of the largest in the British WWII fleet, was sunk by torpedoes during the Second World War in a U-boat attack in Scapa Flow on Oct 14, 1939. The ghostly images created by ADUS are published for the first time and show the wreck in great detail. The wreck, an official War Grave in which more than 833 sailors died when it sank in 10 minutes, is still leaking fuel.     [ scotsman :: 2006-09-25 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Pieces of WWII aircraft wreckage pulled from River in Normandy
Article no longer available from the original source.
Enormous sections of a World War II aircraft that has rested on the bottom of the Duck River in Normandy were uncovered and measured by Air Force and Navy personnel. But after examination of the vintage wreckage, there are more questions than answers over exactly what type of warplane it is. U.S. Navy Cmdr. Frank Moulds heard about the crash site in Normandy and took the opportunity to take a look at it. He researched what few records there were of the time period and discovered there were as many as 50 military crash sites scattered all over 3 local counties. It's the commander's theory that the plane is a B-25 Mitchell Bomber that went down in 1943.     [ knoxnews :: 2006-09-10 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Battle stations over sunken Graf Spee and Nazi Eagle
For more than 60 years the wreck of the Graf Spee, once the pride of Nazi Germany's fleet, rested undisturbed. But now a new battle has broken out over who owns recovered spoils. The group that recovered them wants to put the pieces up for auction. But Uruguayan officials, fearing that neo-Nazi groups acquire the artefacts, are threatening to suspend the permit. "There are ethical limits on the promotion of Nazi symbols in museums, so who are the potential buyers of these icons, if not neo-Nazis?" The insignia had been covered up so that the swastika was not visible. Some say collectors were willing to pay $15 million for pieces.     [ smh :: 2006-08-27 :: Admiral Graf Spee: Pocket Battleship ]

Nazi sailor key to Australia's battleship mystery
A former Nazi sailor living in South America may hold the key to solving one of Australia's greatest wartime mysteries, the sinking and disappearance of the battleship HMAS Sydney. Shipwreck hunters have tracked him down and believe he holds clues about exactly where HMAS Sydney sank after being torpedoed by a German raider, the Kormoran 1941. The latest clues come from Reinhold Von Malapert, one of the last-known survivors of the Kormoran. He was the German raider's chief communications officer.     [ nzherald :: 2006-07-22 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

World War II B-24D bomber found in Mojave Desert
An aviation archaeologist discovered the lost wreckage of a World War II bomber in the middle of the Mojave Desert. A military recovery mission is underway with the discovery of decades-old bones. "It's very, very... it's an emotional experience," said U.S. Marines Captain George Murphy. On April 09, 1944, a B-24D Bomber went down during a training mission just southwest of the then Mojave Marine Corps Air Station. The command setup shop over a month ago and has carefully unearthed personal artifacts like zippers and dog tags.     [ aiipowmia :: 2006-07-07 :: Warbirds: Vintage aircrafts ]

France protects HMT Lancastria shipwreck from scuba looters
The French Government's decided to offer protection to the final resting place of over 3,000 British servicemen who died when the HMT Lancastria was sunk in World War Two. It was lending support to the war effort, helping to rescue the British Expeditionary Force from France, when she was attacked by german Luftwaffe aircrafts off St. Nazaire on 17 June 1940. At the time she was carrying several thousand troops and RAF personnel. The ship sank rapidly with heavy loss of life. So grievous was the disaster that news of the sinking was initially suppressed by the wartime Cabinet.     [ cdnn :: 2006-06-26 :: Relic Hunters: Hidden Nazi & War treasures ]

An elite group of divers has found an important WW2 wreck
Samir Alhafith, Michael Kalman, Mark Eaves and Tony Keen were descending onto a giant freighter no person had seen since February 8, 1943. On that terrible day, the Iron Knight was sunk by a Japanese submarine. The ship was one of 16 vessels destroyed by Japanese submarines off the NSW coast during World War II. Only 3 of these have been found. Iron Knight was the victim of one of the most infamous Japanese subs - the massive I-21, which also launched a float plane over Sydney during the midget submarine attack in 1942 and shelled Newcastle. The four men belong to the Sydney Project, which is dedicated to finding shipwrecks in deep water.     [ smh :: 2006-06-03 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Shipwreck survivor - Liberty Ship torpedoed by a German u-boat
Ray Laenen's Liberty Ship was torpedoed by a German u-boat in the middle of the Indian Ocean, leaving Laenen and his Army comrade Tom Tschirhart shipwrecked. The next day an officer ordered Tschirhart onto a different lifeboat. Later the two boats drifted apart. Laenen's lifeboat was rescued by a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, but Laenen had no idea what had happened to Tschirhart. One day a new patient in the next bed looked up at him and said, "Ray, Ray." Tschirhart had been adrift for 32 days before a US submarine found his lifeboat. Fate had put his friend in the next bed, but Tschirhart's ordeal had made him unrecognizable to his best friend.     [ freep :: 2006-05-04 :: Wrecks: WWII ]

Two WWII ships found in Baltic Sea
Two ships lost in the Baltic Sea during WWII have been found in the Gulf of Finland, a Russian researcher told. One of the vessels was the Siberia hospital ship that was sunk by Nazi planes on August 20, 1941 near the Gogland Island in the Gulf of Finland. Another find was the N12 tanker that sank on August 29,1941 during the same convoy. 300 personnel from the 10th Rifle Corps were on board and most of them probably drowned.     [ RIA Novosti :: 2005-08-23 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Sunken sub may end wartime mystery
Paul Tidwell, a shipwreck salvager, could be about to answer one of the most intriguing questions of WWII: was Japan seeking peace with the Allies more than a year before the war ended? He believes the wreckage of a Japanese submarine sunk by US warplanes on June 23, 1944, could contain a peace proposal from Tokyo. He plans to raise the sub, the I-52, from 5500 metres below the surface between Cape Verde and Barbados. The u-boat was carrying crew of 112, two tonnes of gold and opium. Declassified documents show that Japan's assistant naval attache had been in secret talks with Allen Dulles.     [ theage :: 2005-04-12 :: Unsolved Mysteries of WWII ]

See also

'U-Boats, WWII Submarines'

'Battleships'.

What's new - recent & interesting categories.

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