Possible U-boat found in Labrador River

But, there where reports of u-boats entering the Mississippi River. We all know that u-boats opereated in the Gulf of Mexico, and i believe that one more than one occasion, that ships were sunk not very far from the Texas coastline.

Hi,
on CBC news
cheers
Jerry

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2012/07/25/nl-u-boat-labrador-discovery-725.html

The attack by U-47 on Scapa Flow is well known but I’d maintain there is a big difference in navigating narrows between block-ships and navigating one-hundred kilometres up a river (unless I seriously underestimated the size of the Churchill River)…

[COLOR=”Blue”]I completely agree – it’s highly unlikely to be a U-boat, but not entirely impossible.
The sidescan image is useless without some sort of scale – I’m not even sure which part they think is the sub!

Unlike the image of the U-550 off Massachusetts, which is obviously a sub, and like many sonar images I’ve seen, shows the pressure hull and what’s left of the conning tower quite clearly…

There are some side-scan sonar images on-line of the ‘Churchill River U-Boat’…

…sorry, I’m just not seeing a submarine anywhere!

That’s a great photograph of the block-ships!

The attack by U-47 on Scapa Flow is well known but I’d maintain there is a big difference in navigating narrows between block-ships and navigating one-hundred kilometres up a river (unless I seriously underestimated the size of the Churchill River). Scapa Flow is big enough to hold the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy, there is room to for a U-boat to manoeuvre inside (indeed U-47 circled while its torpedo tubes were reloaded), stationary Battleships make tempting targets and the open ocean is just outside (despite the block-ships).

What worthwhile target is there one-hundred kilometres up the Churchill River? Even, the rather fanciful, drop-off or pick-up of ‘spies’ wouldn’t seem to justify such a risky river passage.

It seems a long way from operating range, but maybe a XXIII?
Also could be other types but the wreck has a bow or stern section missing.

Operation Paukenschlag against the US coastline featured mainly type IX boats, but there were a few type VII too. It usually took around 2 weeks to get across the Atlantic, but so long as they were supported by the type XIV Milchkuh refuelling/replenishing subs they could stay out around 10 weeks in the case of the type IX, easily enough to patrol off Canada.
The type XXIII was just a small coastal electro boat, and could only carry 2 torpedoes.
Only a single type XXI (a large ocean-going electro boat) saw action at the end of WW2 in the European theatre.

…Submarines are essentially clandestine vessels; deliberately sailing one into such confined waters would seem very unlikely…

Gunter Prien took his U-47 (an ocean-going type VII) into Scapa Flow to sink the Royal Oak through what is little more than a shallow river. It’s amazing to stand on the bridge (built after his attack), look down at the shallows, and wonder just how he managed it. Even Churchill was impressed!
There were a few block ships present which he had to navigate in the sound to gain access to Scapa Flow, but these other ships were added after the event, and you can just see the present-day bridge being started, incidentally built by Italian POWs…

How wide / deep is the Churchill River ‘one-hundred kilometres from the ocean’?

To me, that sounds an extraordinary thing for a U-boat to do. Submarines are essentially clandestine vessels; deliberately sailing one into such confined waters would seem very unlikely. For what purpose would it have been there and how did it meet its end? Presumably there were no claims for sinking a U-boat in such circumstances so was it scuttled?

My guess is that the ‘U-boat’ will turn-out to be something else.

The dimensions are a bit strange. They say the sidescan sonar shows the object to be 150 feet long, and call that 30 metres (!)

It seems a long way from operating range, but maybe a XXIII?
Also could be other types but the wreck has a bow or stern section missing.

It’s the Red October, scuttled by Sean Connery.. :p

Hi
Odd, maybe it is an 150 ft aircraft fuselage with no wings then?
cheers
Jerry

The dimensions are a bit strange. They say the sidescan sonar shows the object to be 150 feet long, and call that 30 metres (!), but the ocean-going type VII and IX boats were 220 feet and 251 feet long respectively…

Seems to be a week for finding U-boats, U-550 in the Atlantic. 😀

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/28/world-war-ii-german-u-boat_n_1713401.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D185338