Divers off N.C. coast go on a high-tech ghost hunt

OCRACOKE ISLAND, N.C.

To divers, it looks like a gigantic knife embedded in sand on the ocean floor, dulled and corroded by decades gone by.

The submarine's aptitude for intimidation, including the machine gun still perched on its bow, remains intact nearly 70 years after it sank 10 miles from the Outer Banks coastline. The bodies of seven men are believed to be inside.

In 1942, U-701 was a German killing machine that entered American waters to wreak havoc on merchant and Navy ships. Before meeting its own demise on July 7, 1942, U-701 attacked and sank at least four Allied vessels.

"It's a sight that would strike fear into any merchant marine's heart," said Evan Kovacs, a scuba diver who photographed the submarine days ago. "It's definitely one of those sights that gets your blood going."

In recent weeks, researchers have gotten a new look at U-701 and other World War II vessels sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic.

Now in its fourth year, an expedition led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is trying to document and photograph the dozens of warships that disappeared below the surface.

Researchers are not planning to raise any of the vessels, largely because many of the underwater sites are military graves.

This summer, researchers are using advanced technology - including a submersible video camera worthy of a Hollywood movie - to find lost ships.

They've narrowed their focus to a 130-square-mile area of the ocean off the southern end of Hatteras Island, believed to be the site of a critical battle between a German submarine and an Allied convoy en route to Florida.

Since the team got started in July, an underwater robot aided by sonar technology has identified 47 sites of interest, at least some of which are likely World War II shipwrecks. They could also be wrecks of another era, debris, or just big rocks on the ocean floor.

The project's ultimate goals are to produce a comprehensive report on the wartime shipwrecks, and to channel the findings into museum exhibits or film productions that raise awareness of an often-forgotten part of WWII history.

Even as coastal residents witnessed ships burning just offshore, most Americans remained isolated from the conflict, perhaps comforted that "World War II was happening in places they couldn't pronounce," said Joe Hoyt, the marine archaeologist who is leading the expedition.

Indeed, thousands of men are believed to have perished in the Battle of the Atlantic, some just off the Outer Banks.

The researchers don't know precisely how many WWII vessels were sunk off the North Carolina coast, but estimates range from 50 to 80. Some, like U-701, have been located and identified, but the majority remain undiscovered.

In 2009, the expedition located and identified one such vessel. The YP-389, a U.S. Navy patrol boat, was attacked and sunk by U-701 about 20 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras - just weeks before the submarine met its own end.

This year, a remotely operated vehicle has been employed to explore deeper sites, while divers armed with high-tech cameras investigate in more shallow water.

Before the expedition wraps next week, researchers said, they hope to get a good look at one of the 47 sites that they are optimistic is a shipwreck.

For Hoyt, the holy grail would be U-576 and a Nicaraguan tanker called Bluefields, a pair of vessels that sank within an hour of each other in July 1942.

Bluefields was part of the convoy that departed from Hampton Roads to deliver cargo for the war effort in Florida.

U-576 attacked the convoy and sank Bluefields somewhere off the Outer Banks. Allied forces retaliated, and U-576 also sank.

"U-boats are cool," Hoyt said. "But the real prize is both of those together."

Erin James, (252) 441-1711, erin.james@pilotonline.com