Ahoy - Mac's Web Log

U-869 with her crew on deck

Reported to have been sunk on the 28th. of February 1945, off Gibraltar by the US Destroyer Escort USS Fowler, and the French Sub Chaser L'Indescret, was the German U-Boat, U-859.

Not so apparently, this boat had been ordered to move her operational area from off shore America to close to Gibraltar by Admiral Donitz of U-Boat Command. This order was never received, and she stayed operational off America, here she became sunk, self destroyed.

One of her own torpedoes was fired, on a circular course it came back to bite her, and she was hit to sink off New Jersey with all hands, here to lay unknown and undiscovered, until a two man diving team located her on the 12th. of September in 1991.

Admiral Karl Donitz head of U-Boat Command with Adolf Hitler

The accompanying chart of the Atlantic shows her true position with a red circle, whilst the red cross depicts her previously wrongly reported lost position.

On the 31st. of August in 1997, another dive by the same team were to make the first real indentification by finding a knife, this was inscribed with the name of a former crew member one Martin Horenburg. Then a rusty box of spare parts was recovered, this had a brass plate on it, when cleaned up, this plate carried the number of the mystery U-Boat, U-869 , plus her manufacturer's name from Bremen.

 

At last the truth was finally revealed, as again the ocean had been forced to yield up a closely held secret over the past 52 years.

The knife of Martin Horenburg found by divers, giving the first real clue as to the idenity of U-869

This rusty box of spare parts recovered from the wreck, gave her number as U-869 and the submarine's manufacturer

Map showing the location of U-869 off North America, previously thought sunk off Spain