glynneco

Type VII-B, U Boat, 753 tons on surface, 218 ft long. Sunk by the destroyer USS Roper on April 14th 1942, with the loss of all hands. The conning tower is at an approximate depth of 85 ft, with a maximum depth of 110 ft.

That's what the book says The story of her sinking is controversial. She was the first sub sunk by the US Navy in WWII. The initial story was she had been spotted on the surface. The Roper commenced shelling and the sub went down with loss of all hands. As it turns out this was a surface action. The U-85 was sunk by a shell from the Roper. The actual hole in the conning tower from the shell is still visible. The U-85 did attempt to fire back. The evidence is the deck gun is not in the stowed position but is actually pointed up. As the sub sank some crew members abandoned ship. The Roper depth charged boat and the survivors while they were in the water and continued on. This was the first action against a sub and no one was clear on how to handle it. The skipper justifyed his actions because feared there were other subs in the area in a pack and stopping to pick up survivors was too risky. I think large amounts of adrenaline were also a factor.

Abnout two hours out of Oregon Inlet in North Carolina The sub sits upright buried in the sand to the aprox water line and is quite a sight as it comes into view as you come down the anchor line. Much of the outer hull and decking has disintegrated. The connong tower is intact and the main gun still points firmly up. Torpedoes can be seen though their outer shells are also gone but are still quite recognizalble. Water temp is usually in the low 60's and vis varies greatly from a few feet to 50ft.

Personal artifacts can still be found scattered about if one looks closely such as boot heels and the emergency breathers. Seeing her on the bottom and also diving on wrecks that were sunk by her sister ships is a sobering experience. I am impressed by the courage of all sailors and their ships that I have the priviledge of visiting.

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Is that the bottom of the quarry or is the vis just really bad today?