New Jersey Scuba Diving

Type:

shipwreck, Type IXc/40 U-boat, Kriegsmarine, Germany

Specs:

( 252 x 22 ft ) 1051 displacement tons, 48-56 crew

Built:

1944, Germany

Sunk:

February 11, 1945
sunk by destroyer escort USS Howard D. Crow - no survivors

Depth:

240 ft

The "U-Who?" was identified as the U-869. This took some detective work, as neither US nor German records placed the U-869 anywhere near the eastern seaboard, and no submarine was recorded as sunk at the location of the wreck. The initial theory was that the U-869 was the victim of a circular-running torpedo, one which malfunctioned and homed in on the sub that launched it. While there are numerous documented cases of this, a submarine can usually detect a circular-runner and evade it by diving under it. Self-kills were rare.

That theory also does not explain the extensive damage at two locations on the wreck. ( Two torpedoes? Even more unlikely. ) Much more likely is that the sub was sunk by Coast Guard convoy escorts in an attack on Feb 11, 1945. But since there was no definite confirmation of a kill, the Navy denied the Coast Guard credit for anything, which was not uncommon. According to Navy records, the Coasties just wasted a lot of ammunition on nothing. See below for details.

The U-869 never sank a ship. The remains of the crew are still inside the broken hull, and even today this hapless boat continues to take lives: 3 divers have died on her since her discovery in 1991.