100 years ago, the German submarine U-111 was sunk by the US Navy in the Atlantic after being captured by the Allies towards the end of World War I. The wreck that was believed to be lost has now been discovered off the coast of the US state of Virginia. Instead of being in the deep sea, as stated by the US Navy, the historic submarine wreck lies at a depth of only 120 meters on the seabed, as the magazine "National Geographic" reported in an exclusive article.
During the First World War, the German Imperial Navy was a leader in the construction of submarines. The designers in the German shipyards equipped their submarines with the then most modern diesel engines, periscopes and gyroscopes. After the British cut off the German ports from the supply of raw materials and food from overseas in a naval blockade in 1916, the German naval command decided to take an ethically questionable step: In return, they attacked civilian cargo and passenger ships with their submarines opponents of war and even from neutral countries.
From Kiel via Harwich to the USA
One of these submarines was the U-111, a submarine built in 1917 largely at the Germania shipyard in Kiel. The 72 meter long ship, equipped with twelve to 16 torpedoes, was mainly used in the English Channel and the North Atlantic from September 1917. By the end of the war it had sunk three cargo ships. After the surrender of the German Empire, the U-111, like many other German U-boats, was brought to Harwich as spoils of war. At the request of US President Woodrow Wilson, six of these submarines were transferred to the USA in 1919, where they were first presented to the population as part of an advertising campaign for war bonds. Then the engines and other systems of the U-111 were removed in order to analyze the advanced technology at that time.
The gutted submarine was then to be used as a test target and sunk along with others in June 1921 as part of a US Air Force maneuver. But the U-111, being pulled by a tugboat, sank on the way to the maneuver site. Because the wreck lying in shallow water was classified as an obstacle dangerous for ships, it was lifted and first towed to the US Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia. On August 31, 1922, the German submarine was to be finally sunk: a ship towed it out into the Atlantic, where its hatches were opened and explosive devices destroyed the hull. According to naval records, the U-111 then sank in 500 meters of water, but the exact location was not disclosed.
Wreckage of U-111 found
The US wreck searcher and former Secret Service agent Erik Petkovic was not satisfied with that. He had previously noticed that some of the ships and submarines sunk by the US Navy after World War I were in much shallower water than stated. To find out if this might have been the case for U-111, Petkovic determined which US Navy ship had brought U-111 to its final resting place and studied that ship's historical logs. In fact, the coordinates noted there suggested that U-111 might still have sunk on the shallower shelf rather than off the continental slope. This was supported by reports from fishermen whose nets were more likely to get caught on the bottom in this area.
In the summer of 2022 - 100 years after the U-111 was sunk - Petkovic and his team used sonar and diving robots to search the defined area. With success: At the beginning of July 2022, the recordings of the diving robot showed the remains of a submarine at a depth of around 120 meters. The team was able to identify the U-111 based on the size and shape of the superstructure. The submarine is the last of the German submarines captured by the Allies in World War I, whose final resting place has now been found. Petrovic and his colleagues plan to attempt a dive to the U-111 wreck next summer and map the wreck. Where it is, however, they keep secret for the time being.
Source: National Geographic