This time instead of doing a freshwater shipwreck dive off Michigan's Thumb area, we are going to SCUBA dive a saltwater shipwreck located almost 30 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean off Morehead City, North Carolina. The wreck is a German U-boat, the U-352, sank during World War II. We shall review the events leading up to the sinking to provide some historical background and get a sense of the events leading up to this tragedy. To me, this makes a dive on a wreck much more interesting. One can try and relate to things seen on the wreck and visualize them with the events that occurred. This is a tragedy because loss of life occurred, even if these sailors where considered the enemy at the time of the sinking.

The U-352 was a German Type 7c class submarine. German submarines were designated as U-boats. (Interestingly, the U.S. Navy designates the name "boat" to any craft small enough to be lifted unto another vessel. Anything too large to lift is designated a "ship". U.S. submarines were not designated as ships until the first nuclear submarine was built.) U-352 was built in Hamburg, Germany, during 1941. It had two diesel engines and two electric battery driven motors. On diesel engines it had a surface speed of 17 knots, and on electric motors it had a submerged speed of 7.6 knots. It could stay submerged for 36 hours maximum. It was armed with 14 torpedoes shot from 5 tubes and also an 88mm deck gun. The crew consisted of 46 men headed by 32 year old Capt. Helmut Rathke. Thirteen of the crew was under 21 years of age.

The U-352 was commissioned in October of 1941 and by January 1942 was on its first patrol off the coast of Iceland. This five-week patrol was a failure with no ships sunk, the crew enduring depth-charge attacks. After returning for repairs and resupply, the boat left St. Nazaire, France, during the first week of April, 1942, for the eastern seaboard of the United States. They were looking forward to participating in "the great American turkey shoot".

It must be remembered that the United States was woefully unprepared for the German submarine attacks against our Merchant Marine fleet. Historical records show that enemy subs patrolled within site of our cities' lights. Great numbers of ships and crew were lost before the Navy reacted with anti-submarine countermeasures. By the time the U-352 completed its three week crossing of the Atlantic, these countermeasures were starting to show some success. Military surveillance and harassment techniques were reducing shipping losses to submarines and a German U-boat, the U-85, was sunk just before the U-352 arrived in its area of operations off Diamond Shoals, North Carolina. This area was dubbed "torpedo alley" for the huge loss of merchant shipping to German subs. Capt. Rathke must have expected success in this area, but he was to be greatly disappointed. The U.S. military's presence in this area proved to be enough to keep the U-352 frequently submerged and trying to remain undetected. Eventually the sub moved southward to an area between Cape Fear and Cape Lookout, N.C. It was here on the afternoon of May 9, 1942, that the Captain, probably desperate for any kind of success, launched a daylight attack on the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Icarus. His torpedo exploded prematurely and gave away the subs position. The Icarus quickly responded with an initial depth charge attack that destroyed the submerged U-boat's periscope and killed a German officer. After several more depth charge attacks, the sub surfaced and the crew attempted to abandon ship. The Icarus continued the attack with its three-inch deck gun until the submarine sank.

Of the crew of 46 German sailors, 13 went down with the sub. The remaining 33 men were picked up by the Icarus. Some of these men were severely wounded. One was missing an arm and another, a leg. Despite being cared for by the Icarus's crew, the man with the missing leg died within a few hours. These men were taken ashore as POW's. Capt. Rathke went down into history, not as he had hoped as a successful U-boat commander, but that he and his crew were the first German submariners captured off the U.S. coast. However, once a prisoner, he maintained his loyalty to Hitler and declared that not only was Hitler a military genius, but a genius in everything.

Since Rathke was still fiercely loyal to his country and had instructed his crew to remain so also, the U.S. military did not obtain the intelligence it had hoped to gain from the crew. Therefore, they decided to try and recover the sub's log book, code book, and cipher machine. During the several weeks following the sinking, the Navy made many attempts to located and penetrate the wreck. Only once were they able to even find the wreck and dive on the forward exterior section of the sub. Efforts where finally discontinued on May 29th.

Ironically, on August 7, 1942, a British ship on patrol in the area registered a sonar contact and initiated a series of depth charge attacks. This resulted in a life raft bobbing to the surface. Thinking they had sunk another German submarine, they marked the spot with a buoy. The next day, two U.S.C.G. cutters arrived and repeatedly depth charged the site. After this, the Navy quickly decided to dive the site and discover the subs identity. After several dives, it was determined that this was the U-352 and not another German submarine.

It was not until 1975 that the wreck was rediscovered by George Purifoy and several of his friends. Considerable time and expense had previously been spent by them to find the wreck. It was not until Purifoy bought his own boat and rented a LORAN unit - which was just coming onto the public market - that he was able to find the wreck on his first trip out. It was located 27 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean from Morehead City, N.C., 1¼ miles from where the Navy's records had positioned it. The wreck's depth varies from 110-116 feet deep.

I have been blessed by having the opportunity to dive several times on this submarine with George Purifoy. While I was helping him suit up, he said he had made 1500 dives on this submarine and was still finding artifacts. During this dive, I lost sight of him when he went inside the submarine. I stayed outside and explored the sub's exterior. I was totally surprised when he climbed back on the boat at the end of the dive and pulled a German Luger pistol from inside his gear. When he held it up to examine it, the handgrips fell off. Still, it was in remarkable shape. He attributed this to being buried deep down in the silt which covered the floor of the wreck's interior. He finds things by blindly burying his hand in the silt and feeling around.

Next time, we will cover the trip down to North Carolina, the incredible artifacts from the submarine displayed in the dive shop, the violent, sickening boat ride out to the wreck, the perilous dive and the encounters with the numerous Sand Tiger (ragged tooth) sharks.

Copyright © 2004 Ron Burkhard