Tour U-869

  • By Timothy Mulligan
  • Posted 11.14.00
  • NOVA

In 1991, a fisherman's net snagged on a massive object on the seafloor 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. Professional diver John Chatterton went down to investigate and discovered an intact German U-boat from World War II, complete with unexploded torpedoes and the remains of its crew. After six years of work, which included the tragic loss of three divers, Chatterton's team finally established the submarine's identity. The boat is U-869, a submarine previously thought lost off the coast of Morocco. In this animated feature, lead yourself on a self-guided tour of U-869, a Type IXC/40 U-boat that sank for reasons unknown in early 1945.

Launch Interactive

In this animated feature, guide yourself through a WW II German submarine sunk off the coast of New Jersey in 1945.

Timothy Mulligan is a German naval historian and archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration. His most recent book is Neither Sharks Nor Wolves: The Men of Nazi Germany's U-Boat Arm 1939-1945 (Naval Institute Press, 1999).

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