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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 the 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.
"It's really a big experiment," Dwight Coleman,
director of the Inner Space Center, said from the boat Thursday. "We're
trying out a lot of things. There's some technical challenges, which is
expected when you're doing ocean research."
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," Coleman said. "It wasn't."
He said they were constantly fighting winds and
currents to stay in the same place because the ship doesn't have dynamic
positioning. At U-853, they had technical problems with the
submersible, then a change in the wind speed and direction made
exploring the site unworkable Friday.
Instead, they decided on Friday to try diving a
different wreck: the schooner barge Montana, which was carrying coal
when it sank just off Block Island in 1907. Coleman said while most
ocean research cruises last several weeks, this one is only five days as
part of a state-funded effort to provide local researchers and teachers
access to Endeavor.
Scuba divers have been visiting the U-Boat and
Black Point for decades. 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.
There are also hazards nearby, an unexploded depth
charge among them. Coleman said they were inspired by undersea explorer
Bob Ballard, a URI scientist who founded the Ocean Exploration Trust and
who recently investigated a U-166 off the coast of Mexico with National
Geographic and the PBS program NOVA.
Online:
Footage from the RV Endeavor live: http://www.innerspacecenter.org/riwrecks
Map showing current location of RV Endeavor: http://techserv.gso.uri.edu/EndeavorNow
Footage from the RV Endeavor live: http://www.innerspacecenter.org/riwrecks
Map showing current location of RV Endeavor: http://techserv.gso.uri.edu/EndeavorNow
