U-505

7-19-2007

This past week I was in Chicago for work and got a little free time to visit the U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry. The U-505 was captured by the US Navy off the coast of Africa on June 4th, 1944. Besides the obvious historical attraction of being the only WWII German submarine on US soil, the U-505 has a special connection to East Coast wreck diving. Being a Type IX-C u-boat, the U-505 is the same build as the U-853 and the U-869 which are both accessible to divers on the East Coast of the US. Having dove the U-869 I have been trying to work in a trip to Chicago to visit this sub for a while.

To those not familiar with Chicago I must first say that Chicago's public transportation system is pretty well organized and even has an online trip planner which is kind of like Mapquest for public transportation (I hope SEPTA is taking notes). If you are traveling to Chicago: http://tripsweb.rtachicago.com/

This made getting to the Museum from O'Hare airport a snap, and a train and bus later I was excitedly buying my ticket.


I only had a couple hours to kill so I made a b-line directly to the sub. The Museum did look like it has a lot to offer although mainly to the younger crowd. They did have a very interesting flight exhibit complete with planes.

The route to the sub starts with a hallway of WWII era military (mostly Navy) recruiting posters and sets the mood to remind us that 60 years ago the Germans were attacking us right off our own shores.


I have been to the Becuna exhibit at Penn's Landing but being in the water (and right next to the Olympic) it does not really prepare you for the first time you walk into the exhibit hall housing the U-505. The entire submarine is on display in a huge room and really gives you a feeling to the size of these "iron coffins". The rest of the exhibit is done very nicely and includes videos and displays that chronical the capture and return of the U-505 to US soil for study. I found it particularly interesting that since it was so crucial that the Germans not know the US had captured the sub (so they did not know we had cracked their codes), each crew member involved was signed to secrecy under the penalty of death, and the German POW's were not allowed to write family members of their whereabouts which was in violation of the Geneva Convention.

U-505 (the pictures don't do it justice)

Also on display are numerous artifacts from the sub including personal effects from the German and US sailors, as well as the infamous Enigma machine. In addition there is a hands on replica periscope, a dive simulator, and a dissected T-5 acoustic torpedo.


The finale was an inside tour of the submarine. This was what I was most looking forward to, and I hate to say it but it was also the most disappointing part of the exhibit. First they would not allow photography inside the sub, and second there were also some "modifications" they have made which are no doubt the result of the litigious society we live in. The most noticeable of which is that they have cut out all the hatches to allow easy walking through the short tour, which I think does an great injustice to getting a true idea of how cramped these sailors were on their long journeys. It was still a great experience, albeit I could have spent all day inside checking out details instead of the 15 minutes you are alloted. Overall I thought the exhibit was very impressive and well worth the time and effort to get there. The other nice thing is that the Museum is right by Lake Michigan and provides a great view of the Chicago skyline.

Northern Pacific 7-15-2007

Independence II trip out of Cape May to the liner Northern Pacific


The Northern Pacific was a 509' passenger liner that caught fire and sank while being towed for a retrofit in 1922. Today she lies upside down in 145 fsw ~30 miles off of Cape May, NJ. We were tied into the wreck at the main break which is I believe about midships. The sand is about 140' and it is possible to get a little deeper inside the wreck. The visibility was a very nice 40' or so, and gave a great overview of the layout of this huge wreck. The bottom temp was about 50 degrees. The wreck rises 20-30' off the bottom and access is easy at the break. I ran my reel inside and was able to penetrate ~150 feet into the wide open interior. I was scanning the bottom (formerly the ceiling) for artifacts but it was quite silty including several large mounds of mud. Caution was necessary to avoid siltout and my line even became buried at one point.

Outside the wreck again I did a little tour of debris field that is off one side of the wreck. I noticed a couple scallops and several big blackfish. I came across a nice fluke and as I reached for my knife I quickly remember I didn't bring the big one. I remembered hearing that if you hold your open bag in front of the fish's face and slap its tail it will swim into your bag. Well this big flattie must have seen that trick because he had no trouble sidestepping into open water, and my heart sank as I watched my dinner swimming away. My half hour was soon up and was not nearly enough time to see much of this huge wreck.

The seas held out and most everyone did 2 nice dives. Just goes to show you can't listen to NOAA. Other divers were more successful in gathering dinner and a bunch of scallops and several lobsters were boated. I would have to say the Northern Pacific is another "don't miss" wreck!

Moonstone 7/11 on the Independence II

The USS St Augustine and the USS Moonstone share an eerily similar history. Both were former luxury yachts, both built in 1929, and both later purchased and commissioned into the US Navy to help patrol the Eastern Sea Frontier in WWII. The similarities don’t stop with their fruitful careers (the Auggie was instrumental in an attack on the U-701), but also in their demise. Both ships sunk serving as convoy escorts off the coast of Cape May/DE. The St. Augustine was run down by the tanker Camas Meadows (who was not in the convoy she was escorting), while the Moonstone was dealt her death blow by the USS Greer in a dense fog.

This week we were originally scheduled to do an overnight expedition to the St. Augustine which lies in 250fsw approximately 60 miles from Cape May. The weather was looking less than promising from the beginning of the week and I was expecting a total blow out. Capt Dan thought Wednesday would still be good and we would try for a 1 and run on the St Augustine instead of the original overnight plan. This was ok by me, as I have been dying to get to this wreck and one dive is better than none any day. Wednesday morning rolled around and with it the FOG. So although the wind and seas cooperated the visibility was non existent. Instead of taking 6 hours in questionable coniditons to get to the Auggie we opted to do something closer and headed to the Moonstone in 130fsw. The fog was still pretty thick close to shore and it was slow going but once further from shore it became patchier and lifted in spots making the journey a little quicker.

On site Dave O tied into the top of the port side depth charge rack in the stern. Visibility on the bottom was 30-40 feet and coming down on the stern facing forward the navigation was a snap. I passed Dave and Mark who were inspecting a piece of the stern and headed forward to check out the wreck. The Moonstone was only 171’x26’ which is small enough to see the whole wreck, but large enough that there are plenty of features and nooks to explore… in a summary a perfect wreck. Rounding the bow and coming to the impressive forward 3” deck gun I began to wish I had packed my camera as this is quite a picturesque wreck. I took my time poking around and by the time I got back to the stern I wished I had more time. I took a last look at the full depth charge rack (they held 8 depth charges) and noticed at least one depth charge lying in the sand off the wreck before heading up. A great dive on a great wreck!

Suggested reading: Shipwrecks of DE/MD

Porthole restoration

Well I got my porthole from the Ayuruoca (see report from 6/24 below) cleaned up. It didn't look so great when it was "fresh", but a little soak in acid, some grinding and buffing and she shined up quite nicely. If anyone has swing plate #10 from the Oil Wreck maybe we can work out a deal... ;-)

Before

#10

Kendall's Open Water class

Kendall Bedford has long been a valuable asset to our dive team. Although until now she has been too young to actually dive she has been a real trooper in providing surface support... not many other 11 year old girls would carry stage bottles through snow and ice to the water for us on training dives in January... Well now she is 12 and her diving career has begun. I was fortunate to attend her first day of open water checkout dives on July 7, 2007. Until I get her report, I'll let the pictures do the talking...

1st descent

Landing on the platform

Ok

Danny demos reg recovery

Kendall does reg recovery

Mask clearing

2 generations of Bedford divers

Dutch Springs new firetruck driver

Bill feeds the fish

Kendall and Danny look for crayfish

Kendall checks out the van

Some weightbelt issues

Ascent after a successful first dive

Stolt and Lana Carol

Independence II – 07-02-2007 – Stolt Dagali and Lana Carol

I got to join a group of 12 divers from the Diversion Dive Club on a trip today. I arrived at the Independence late Saturday evening and between the wind blowing at a pretty good clip and the group of drunken fishermen on the dock discussing alternate plans for the next day, I have to say my hopes were not too high for getting out in the morning. The group wanted to dive the Stolt (130 fsw) so off we went in about 4 foot seas. Capt Jay gave the group the option of bailing but this hardy bunch wanted to press on. On site Dave O got us tied into the top of the wreck at about 60 feet. Some mussels and a few lobsters came up and it was decided to head inshore for the second dive. I bounced down to pull the hook and it was nice to see about 25 feet of vis and warm water on top of the wreck.

For the second dive we headed in to the Lana Carol. This was my first time on this wreck which is a scallop boat that foundered in 1976, now sitting in 85 fsw. The visibility was 15-20’ and there was a sharp thermocline at about 50’. I did a tour around the perimeter of the wreck looking for lobsters and only spotted a few smaller bugs in harder to reach spots. There were quite a few nice sized seabass hiding in the washout under the stern. I came back up on the deck of the wreck in the stern and I peaked in a hatch in the deck and inside was a huge lobster. It must have been pushing 10 lbs if not bigger. I don’t usually try too hard for bugs but because it’s a small wreck and I still had plenty of time I decided to give it shot. I got up to my waist in the hatch and it was quickly apparent why this lobster is as big as it is. After a tour out in the sand looking for fluke or my favorite, monkfish, I headed up the line empty handed. In all the other divers did much better than I and about 7 lobsters, some seabass, some tog, and a bag of mussels were boated for the day.