Sunken U-boat off Rhode Island target of scientists

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Scientists are using submersibles to explore a German U-boat sunk 7 miles off the Rhode Island coast the day before Nazi Germany surrendered in World War II, and they’re streaming the attempts online as they work to learn more about shipwrecks and how they affect the environment.

The submarine, U-853, was sunk in the Battle of Point Judith by Coast Guard and Navy ships on May 6, 1945, the day after it took down the SS Black Point, the last U.S. merchant ship sunk in the Atlantic during the war.

The scientists from the University of Rhode Island’s Inner Space Center, Connecticut’s Ocean Exploration Trust and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy hope to explore both wrecks during the five-day trip that lasts through Sunday. By Friday, they had made several attempts that were hampered by weather conditions and technical challenges, but they planned to keep trying over the weekend.

They are using the National Science Foundation’s research vessel Endeavor as a base and working 24 hours a day to get access. In addition to streaming online, the scientists are broadcasting three times a day on the local PBS station.

The scientists first tried to get to Black Point, which is closer to shore and in shallower water than U-853, which sits 130 feet below the surface.

“It was very challenging. We thought it was going to be an easier dive,” said Dwight Coleman, director of the Inner Space Center. “It wasn’t.”

The U-boat is considered a war grave and is the property of Germany.

The team notified the German embassy of the expedition and assured it it wouldn’t actually touch the boat, according to Michael Brennan, an archaeological oceanographer at the Ocean Exploration Trust.