The U-853, which had been nick named by her crew Der Seiltaenzer Tightrope Walker, was a type IXC German
U-Boat. Commissioned on June 25, 1943, she was 251.9 feet long, 22.5 feet wide
and displaced 740 tons.On May 1, 1945, Hamburg radio announced that Adolf Hitler
was dead. Grand Admiral Doenitz took over as Der Fuehrer and immediately began
to arrange a surrender. On May 4, 1945, with WW II quickly coming to an end,
Admiral Karl Doenitz gave the following order All U-boats cease fire at once. Stop
all hostile action against allied shipping. Doenitz. We are not sure if the
U-853 received Donitz’s transmission or simply refused to obey his orders. US
naval experts at the time considered U-boat captains to be among the most
fanatical members of the German military and predicted that some would continue
to fight despite Doenitz’s order.
On May 5, the U-853, which had been prowling the waters
northeast of Block Island, torpedoed and sank the coiler Black Point, killing
twelve men. Two minutes later, the SS Kamen, a Yugoslav freighter, radioed word
of the sinking. Within an hour, the U.S. Navy Taskforce, which was in the area,
began hunting the 853. The Atherton found her within three hours and the attack
began. The Navy used Hedgehogs (rocket launched projectiles), depth charges,
three ships and two blimps. After an assault with depth charges, various bits
of debris floated to the surface including a pillow, a life jacket and the
U-boat’s captain’s hat. This was only a trick as the Navy’s sonar then caught
the sub moving east. Again and again, resulting in a cat and mouse type game to
the death, the Navy’s sonar would locate the U-boat and the attacks would
resume. The first attack started at 8:29 PM. The Navy continued its assault
until 10:45 AM the next day. The U-853 was declared officially dead.
Today the U-853 sits in a 130 feet of water off Block
Island, she sits upright and intact on a sandy bottom. Penetration is possible but, should
only be done by trained and experienced divers.
Note: Artifacts taking from this shipwreck is now forbidden. She
was declared an Official War Grave.
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