the German submarine
u853 A type 9 C40 uo of Nazi Germany’s
CS Marine in World War I was laid down
on August 21st 1942 by desim mag AG
vaser in bramman she entered service on
the 25th of June 1943 under the command
of capan liutenant helmet summer the
German type 9 C40 submarines were
slightly larger than the earlier type 9
C’s you 853 had a surface displacement
of
1,144 tons and
1,257 tons when submerged she measured
251 ft 10 in in total length with a
pressure Hall length of
192t 9 in a beam of 22t 6 in a height of
31 ft 6 in and a draft of 15′ 4 in her
propulsion system consisted of two man
M9 v46 supercharged four stroke 9
cylinder diesel engines generating 4400
metric horsepower for surface travel and
two Seaman shooker 2gu 345 34 double-
acting electric motors providing 1,000
shaft horsepower for submerged operation
she featured two shafts with 6-t
propellers and was rated for depths of
up to 750 ft the submarine had a top
surface speed of 18 18.3 knots and a
submerged speed of up to 7.3 knots while
submerged she could travel 63 nautical
miles at 4 knots and when surfaced she
had a range of
13,850 nautical miles at speed of knots
10 knots u853 was armed with six 21in
torpedo tubes four at the bow and two at
the stern carrying 22 Torpedoes she also
featured a 10.5 CM SKC 32 Naval gun with
180 rounds a 3.7 CM SKC 30 and a 2cm C30
anti-aircraft gun the crew compliment
was 48 the Germans called the uboat D
sail tensor or the tight RPP Walker and
her crew adorned her sail with an emblem
featuring a yellow shield and a red
horse during her first war Patrol from
May to June 10th 19 44
u853 operated under Capitan leutenant
helmet summer on a weather watching
Mission German intelligence believed
Atlantic weather patterns could help
predict the timing of an Allied invasion
of Europe on May 25th 1944
u853 spotted RMS Queen Mary carrying
American troops and supplies the ubot
attempted an attack but was outpaced by
the much larger and faster
vessel as she surfaced in Queen Mary’s
wake u853 was engaged by fairy swordfish
aircraft from British Merchant aircraft
carriers MV anilus and MV Empire
mckendrick though undamaged The ubot
Returned fire hitting all three planes
the aircraft managed to return to their
carrier but one was deemed Beyond repair
and
jettison the escort carrier USS croen
had been hunting German weather boats
for nearly month having already sunk U
488 and
u49 intercepted radio Transmissions
directed Croatan and six destroyers to
search for
u853 The elusive uboat proved so
difficult to locate that croatan’s crew
nicknamed her Moby Dick after 10 days of
pursuit on June 17th Huff Duff
hfdf highfrequency Direction finding
detected a weather report from
u853 just 30 nautical miles away within
minutes two fm1 Wildcat Fighters straf
the submarine killing two crewmen and
wounding 12 others despite suffering 28
shrapnel and bullet wounds summer
managed to give the order to dive likely
saving his submarine from destruction by
Allied bombers the Relentless Pursuit
from May 25th to June 17th took a heavy
toll on U 853s crew
on June 18th 23-year-old Ober liutenant
zor SE helmet FS dorf assumed command
marking his first assignment as Captain
and navigated the ubo back to lauron
Northwest France summer along with a
significant portion of the crew was
deemed unfit for Duty on July 10th
summer was officially relieved by overlo
Nour Auto vermouth the boat remained in
Port until August 27th when decorated
veteran corvan capan gter kunka
commander of the 10th ubot flotilla took
charge for her second patrol this time
u853 operated in the western approaches
off the British Isles but failed to
score any successes over 7 weeks instead
of returning to laurant she proceeded to
flansburg Germany arriving on October
14th upon arrival kunka took command of
the 33rd ubot flotilla and handed u853
back to fdor for her third and final
Patrol before departure u853 was
equipped with a schnorchel a retractable
air intake and exhaust system that
allowed her to run diesel engines while
submerged reducing the need for risky
surfacing to recharge batteries on
February 23rd 1945 Germany deployed
u853 on her third war Patrol to disrupt
us Coastal shipping commanded by obber
liutenant Zur Z helmet FM dorf the ubo
failed to sink any Targets in the early
weeks of her Mission her Atlantic
Crossing was slow as she relied on her
snorkel to stay submerged and evade
Allied
aircraft on April 1st
1945
u853 received orders to proceed to the
Gulf of Maine on April 23rd
u853 torpedoed and sank USS Eagle 56
near Portland Maine the World War I era
Patrol boat was Towing targets for a US
Navy dive bomber training exercise three
nautical miles off Cape Elizabeth when
she exploded a mid ships and went down
only 13 of her 67 crew members
survived later that day USS Selfridge
dropped nine depth charges on a
suspected submarine the following day
day USS Muskegan made sonar contact with
u853 and launched an attack but failed
to destroy her although several
survivors reported seeing a submarine
bearing yellow and red Insignia a Navy
inquiry initially attributed the sinking
of p56 to a boiler explosion however in
2001 the Navy re-evaluated the incident
and officially recognized that the
vessel had been lost due to enemy action
as a result the survivors and the
families of the deceased were awarded
purple hearts acknowledging their
sacrifice in what was ultimately
confirmed as a wartime attack on May 5th
1945 reich’s president Carl Donuts
ordered all uots to cease offensive
operations and return to base at the
time u853 was lying in wait off Point
Judith Rhode Island according to the US
Coast Guard she either failed to receive
the order or less likely chose to ignore
it shortly after she torpedoed
blackpoint a 368 ft Collier on route
from New York to Boston blowing off her
Stern within 15 minutes blacko sank in
100 ft of water less than four nautical
miles south of Point Judith she was the
last us flagged merchant ship lost in
the second world war 12 men perished
while 34 crew members were rescued a
massive cloud of black smoke Rose from
the wreck as the Yugoslav freighter SS
Cayman sent out a distress call Captain
prior master of Black Point recounted
the moment of impact I took out my
cigarette about to light it but whether
I ever did I couldn’t tell you maybe I
swallowed the damn thing because that’s
when it hit the fan hell everything did
the clock flew off the bulkhead the
barometer crashed down Windows shattered
and the pilot house doors blew open
instantly you could smell crude oil the
whole stern was gone the boys slid down
onto the raft and I wasn’t far behind
them within an hour us warships arrived
at the scene the Destroyer Escort USS
Atherton with its Superior sonar team
took the lead followed by the Coast
Guard frigate mury the Destroyer Escort
Erikson arrived an hour later at 814
p.m. Atherton detected a slow moving
sonar contact heading 90°
by 8:29 p.m. it dropped 13 magnetic
depth charges a second attack followed
using hedgehogs but contact was lost at
11:33 p.m. sonar reacquired the target
u853 had moved 4,000 yd likely seeking
deeper water at 11:37 p.m. Atherton
launched another Hedgehog attack and
this time oil and debris erupted from
the sea there was little hope for
u853 trapped in shallow water she had
nowhere to hide all three destroyers
joined the assault while two durables
from Lake Hurst New Jersey also attacked
the crippled
submarine at 10:45 a.m. The Barrage
ceased when the captain’s hat surfaced
the Battle of Point Judith had ended
frasdorf and his crew were
lost hard hat divers from the Navy
salvage ship USS penguin special
specialized in submarine rescue arrived
at the scene they attempted to search
u853 but the crew’s bodies blocked the
escape hatch with tons of unexploded
ordinance scattered around the site was
deemed too dangerous for further Dives
the divers had hoped to recover the log
book but it was never
found the question of why frasdorf
attacked the Aging Black Point when he
must have known the war was ending
remains unanswered his actions defied
direct orders from Admiral Donuts who
had commanded on May 4th all OTS
attention all you boats cease fire at
once stop all hostile action against
Allied Shipping did frasdorf ever
receive the order evidence suggests u853
radio was operational reports also claim
he surfaced after the attack just as he
allegedly did after sinking Eagle booat
56
why did U 853 Surface after each strike
why attack in just 130 ft of water where
detection from the air was
easy duts had ordered OTS to attack only
in depths of at least 200 ft another
command froms dorf ignored and if as
reported she surfaced after the attack
why did she linger instead of fleeing at
18 knots on the surface she could have
been over 20 mi out to sea before the U
us ships arrived it just doesn’t add up
Hans Gerber a former u505 crewman once
told said he believed frasdorf was young
and ambitious risking his crew’s lives
for personal Glory he had a sore throat
meaning he wanted an iron cross if I
were froms dorf I’d have sailed into
Block Island bought a round at the bar
and toasted the war’s end instead he
doomed his men for what before his final
Patrol former Captain helmet summer told
him they are all good boys bring them
home yet here they remain off Block
Island resting in 130 ft of water still
waiting to go
home the attack on Black Point remains
one of the most puzzling and
controversial acts of the final days of
World War II whether you8 53’s Commander
acted out of ignorance Defiance or
desperation his decision resulted in the
destruction of his boat and the deaths
of his entire crew U 853s sinking on May
6th 1945 marked the last ubot to be
destroyed in US Waters and serves as a
tragic reminder of the chaotic final
moments of Nazi Germany’s war effort