U-85

 

I don’t know the mechanics of ships or submarines but I do love hearing their history and stories. U-85 was another German submarine that was sunk among our shores during the World War 2 era.

German submarine U-85 was a Type VIIB U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

Commissioned on 7 June 1941 and assigned to the 3rd U-boat Flotilla, U-85 completed four war patrols with the flotilla, and sank three ships totaling 15,060 gross register tons (GRT). She was sunk with all hands on 14 April 1942 off the United States coast near Cape Hatteras by gunfire from the destroyer USS Roper (DD-147). She was the first German U-boat loss of "Operation Drumbeat" (Paukenschlag), Germany's U-boat offensive off the eastern seaboard of the United States in 1942.

U-85 was operating within visual distance of Bodie Island Light at midnight on 13 April 1942 when Roper detected the submarine on British Type 286 RADAR at a range of 2,700 yards (2,500 m). She attempted to run south on the surface and fired her stern torpedo at Roper when the range closed to 700 yards. Roper evaded the torpedo and U-85 turned sharply to starboard when the range closed to 300 yards. Roper illuminated the U-boat with her searchlight and observed men on deck near the gun whose firing arc had just been cleared by the course change. Roper raked U-85 with machine gun fire and scored a hit with a 3"/50 caliber gun. Roper then dropped a pattern of 11 depth charges where U-85 had disappeared beneath the surface.

Numerous men were observed in the water, but no rescue attempt was made until daylight. By then, there were no survivors among the 29 bodies floating in life jackets. Some of the bodies were wearing civilian clothes carrying wallets with United States currency and identification cards. The bodies were fingerprinted, photographed and buried in a night-time military ceremony at the Hampton National Cemetery. U-85 lies in less than 100 feet of water; the United States Navy briefly attempted to salvage her. More recent investigation by sport divers has raised questions about Navy reports on the wreck.

 

The hatch of the U-85 is on display in the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse visitor center, and the sub itself still serves as an attraction for divers. The Enigma machine was illegally recovered from the wreck by private divers and in 2003 the German government agreed to allow the machine to be displayed at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, in Hatteras, North Carolina.