Originally Posted by
Bruce McAskill
The U-853 was one of the last if not the last U-Boat sunk at the end of the war. Her Capt. was reputed to be a die hard Nazi who refused to surrender. He torpedoed a WW1 vintage Eagle class patrol boat off the coast of Maine and then headed south. Off of Block Island Rhode Island he sank the merchant ship Blackpoint caring coal to Boston. But it was not a smart thing to do as there was only about 130 feet of water under him and just a few miles away was the home port of the North Atlantic Destroyer squadron in Newport Rhode Island. There was also a Naval air station not very far away also. Needless to say it did not take long for the sub to be found and sunk. Skip ahead 15 years or so and a man named John Jags started diving on the U-853. He took many things off of it from life rafts to the attack periscope and started a museum. Then he brought three of the crew to shore and that started an international incident. The German government being upset was an understatement to say the least as the sub was a war graves location as agreed to by the US government at the end of the war. The three sailors were buried in Newport Rhode Island with full military honors and each year a member of the German military holds a remembrance ceremony at the grave site. And now you know the rest of the story and why I said the ones working on U-550 have to be careful or risk being closed down.
