Footage taken of WWII Navy vessel sunk by U-boat

NEWPORT NEWS

A World War II Navy patrol boat, untouched off the coast of Hatteras since it was sunk by a German sub in 1942, has been discovered, NOAA said.

The converted trawler YP-389 was found about 18 miles off Hatteras Inlet last month, during the first leg of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Battle of the Atlantic expedition, said Joe Hoyt, a maritime archaeologist with the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.

As many as five men may be entombed under 325 feet of water in the relatively intact 102-foot vessel, said David Alberg, the sanctuary's superintendent.

The ship's discovery was made Aug. 7 from footage taken by an advanced diving robot and confirmed with historical records, Alberg said.

Footage of the wreck shows a skeletal vessel with numerous artifacts - light fixtures, batteries, fire extinguishers, port holes - scattered around it. The sides of the hull, with its rivets corroded, had fallen to the side.

Alberg said finding the wreck is significant because it has clearly not been touched since it was sunk on June 19, 1942, by a German submarine and also because it is believed to be a Navy war grave. Of the 24 men aboard, six were killed.

YP-389 lost a 90-minute surface battle with the German U-701, which was sunk two weeks later by U.S. Army aircraft about 10 miles north.

In accounts told by survivors, Hoyt said, the YP-389 used .30-caliber machine guns and depth charges to attack the Germans, who returned fire with 20mm flak guns and 88mm deck guns.

Hoyt said that the proximity of the final resting places of the two enemy vessels is telling.

"It really characterized the Battle of the Atlantic," he said, referring to the early years of the war, when vessels were being attacked regularly by German submarines off the East Coast.

Richard Lawrence, head of the state Department of Cultural Resources North Carolina Archaeology Branch, said that finding a World War II-era vessel is rare. The last ones, the Coast Guard cutters Bedloe and Jackson, were discovered a few years ago off Nags Head and Hatteras by divers, he said.

Of the 137 vessels - Allied, German and merchant - lost off North Carolina during World War II, Lawrence said, about 40 have been located.

Lawrence said he heard speculation about YP-389 after Duke University researchers spotted it in 1973 while looking for the ironclad Monitor.

He said it "was a real thrill" to accompany the expedition team when it sent the Remotely Operated Vehicle down to find the vessel. As the robot, operated from the ship, worked for two hours, Lawrence and the other researchers compared what they were seeing with historic photos of the vessel.

"By the end of the dive, we had no doubt what it was," he said.

The site is protected by federal laws that forbid touching or removing artifacts.

"If divers were to visit the site," Lawrence said, "I would hope they would respect the site as a war grave."

The Battle of the Atlantic expedition, conducted by NOAA and numerous state and federal partners, recently surveyed the HMT Bedfordshire, a British trawler sunk in May 1942 off Beaufort, N.C. Last summer, the team surveyed U-85, U-701 and U-352.

Hoyt said the project will continue surveying known World War II wrecks, as well as seeking other undiscovered sunken ships and U-boats. The team next wants to find U-576, he said, which is believed to be not far from YP-389 and U-701.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com