Federal law defines an historic site as being at least fifty years old. As a
result, wrecks associated with World War II now meet that criterion. Nearly all
the shipwrecks in the Gulf from that period relate to one cause - attack by the
German submarines known as "U-boats." U-boat comes from the German word "Unterseeboot."
During the years 1942 and 1943, a fleet of over 20 German U-boats cruised the
Gulf, seeking to disrupt the vital flow of oil carried by tankers from ports in
Texas and Louisiana. They succeeded in sending 56 vessels to the bottom; 39 of
these are now believed to be in state or Federal waters off Texas, Louisiana,
and Florida. After their initial, devastating success, U-boat attacks in the
Gulf became rare by the end of 1943 after merchant vessels began cruising in
armed convoys. The opening of the "Big Inch" pipeline from Texas to New Jersey
also contributed to freeing the war effort from relying on ships to transport
crude oil.
As a result of remote-sensing surveys required of the oil and gas industry by
the MMS, several U-boat casualties have been located on the sea floor. These
include the Heredia, a United Fruit Company freighter; the oil tanker
Sheherezade; the Gulfpenn, which carried 90,000 barrels of fuel oil;
and the Robert E. Lee, a passenger freighter sunk by the U-166.
The U-166 was the only German U-boat sunk in the Gulf. The U-166 was
discovered in May 2001 during a routine pipeline survey conducted by C&C
Technologies for BP and Shell. The submarine lies in 5,000 feet of water within
a mile of her last victim, the passenger ship SS Robert E. Lee. Popular
belief has long held that the U-166 had been sunk by a torpedo dropped from a
U.S. Coast Guard Utility Amphibian J4F aircraft over 100 miles away from its
actual location on August 1, 1942. It is now believed that the sub was sunk two
days earlier by depth charges from the Robert E. Lee’s naval escort, the
U.S. Navy sub-chaser, PC-566. Another German submarine, the U-171, which was
operating in the Gulf at the same time, may actually have been the vessel
spotted by the J4F aircraft.
Further Reading:
Further information on World War II shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico can be
accessed through the P.A.S.T. Foundation.
Dan Warren. 2004. ROV
Investigations of the DKM U-166
Shipwreck Site to Document the Archaeological and Bioligical Aspects of the
Wreck Site Final Performance Report
Clay Blair. 1996. Hitler’s U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939-1942. Random
House, New York.
Melanie Wiggins. 1995. Torpedoes in the Gulf: Galveston and the U-Boats,
1942-1943. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.
“MMS Ensures Nation’s
Historic Shipwrecks are Protected as Archaeologists Share in U-Boat Discovery.”
MMS News Release, June 15, 2001.
“Joint
Effort Yields World War II Relic” in MMS Today, Summer 2001 (pages 6 to 7).
Ships of Exploration |
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Civil War Shipwrecks
World War II Shipwrecks |
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