The Only Time a Submarine Destroyed Another Submarine Underwater

During World War I, Germany wreaked havoc on the seas by unconventional means. German

submarine

s sent tons of Allied war materiel to the bottom of the ocean with such a hands-on approach that the United States and its allies could not keep up with the production line of new supplies that other nations desperately needed. Over

time

, the United States, Great Britain, and other countries realized that the

submarine

, although slow and clumsy at

time

s, was a useful resource of war. During World War II, the Kriegsmarine continued to make fair use of the submarine fleet, conducting a naval blockade across Europe that forced the Allies to be cautious at sea.

However, since the original submarines were first launched,

only

two encounters of two of them colliding in a combat zone have been recorded. The first occurred in World War I, when U-27 sank the British E3. The submarine was

destroyed

, but the crew was saved. The second met a more sinister end in February 1945, when a submarine carrying secret cargo en route to Japan was intercepted by British submarines sent to eliminate it. When both submarines were within range of each other, a brief

underwater

battle ensued, with the vehicles completely submerged. The skirmish jeopardized a secret mission intended to help the Japanese army with the latest German technologies fight the Americans in the Pacific.

Aboard U-864, the Germans carried prototype weapon designs along with German and Japanese scientists and a significant amount of liquid mercury for transport to Japan. It was Operation Caesar, and it was the Reich's last attempt to try to win the war against the Allied forces. The War of 1944 Created to be stealthy ocean hunters, submarines were intended to operate behind enemy lines, shooting down targets that had no chance of escaping the torpedoes. During both World Wars, the Germans and their submarines left a trail of chaos and sunken ships in the Atlantic and North Sea. Although the Kriegsmarine submarine fleet was small, it caused enough problems for the American and British navies to the point that even warships traveled in convoys just to avoid being sunk by one of the many submarines patrolling the coasts of Europe. .

When World War II broke out, Hitler followed the same strategy employed by Kaiser Wilhelm during the Great War. He ordered the Kriegsmarine to use any available submarine to block any trade routes used by any nation to prevent Britain, France, and Russia from receiving supplies sent by the United States and other countries. As Kriegsmarine warships were fewer in number than those of England, the submarines were there to change the balance to some extent. Although extremely useful at first, once the United States landed in Normandy and southern France during June and August 1944, the submarines could do little to prevent the Allies from gaining power on land and sea.

It was the beginning of the end of the war and Hitler knew it. The Americans and British were slowly gaining ground in France and Italy. At the same time, the Russians made the Germans pay for every inch they took from them when they invaded the territories of the Motherland. The Eastern Front was a bloodbath and there was no escape. The same thing was happening in the Pacific. The once powerful Japanese Empire was now crumbling under the powerful American military. On island after island, U.S. Marines fought their way through fierce Japanese infantry banzai attacks on land and kamikaze attacks at sea.

The Americans moved closer to mainland Japan with each island conquered and the Emperor wondered if there was a way out. In December 1944, Peleliu Island was conquered by the United States after a costly and bloody battle, and preparations began for the invasions of Iwo Jima. In Europe, Hitler launched the Ardennes Offensive as a last-ditch effort to keep the United States at bay. But others in the Reich knew that the end of the Axis was near. With that in mind, as a further effort to help the Japanese win the war and prevent American Marines from setting foot in Germany, the Third Reich prepared a secret operation to send German scientists and engineers, as well as prototype weapons and vehicle designs. , to help their Japanese allies.

Operation Caesar The goal of the secret German mission was to send advanced technology to Japan to help it win the war against the Americans in the Pacific. Germany loaded submarine 864 with the Reich's latest technological innovations. This included components and schematics for the V-2 rocket, Jumo 004 turbojets, and other weapons that would give the waning Japanese Empire an advantage over the Americans. U-864 also carried more than 70 tons of liquid mercury distributed in 1,857 steel vials for explosive primers. On board were two German engineers from the Messerschmitt aviation company, Rolf von Chlingensperg, Riclef Schomerus and Japanese torpedo experts Tadao Yamoto and Toshio Nakai.

Commanded throughout her career by Korvettenkapitän Ralf-Reimar Wolfram, U-boat 864 served with the 4th U-boat Flotilla, receiving crew training until 31 October 1944. U-864 was a cruiser submarine Type IXD2. It was 95 meters long and larger than the common Type VII submarine. It was designed for long-range transoceanic patrols. The D2 variant, in particular, was even more significant in accommodating larger cargo compartments. Before departure, U-864 was modified with completely new submarine technology that very few submarines had. A diving mast was incorporated into the vehicle to take in air from the surface while remaining submerged at a shallow depth. The mission was to sail the submarine north around Norway and then cross the Arctic through Soviet territory to deliver the secret cargo.

Wolfram's initial plan seemed solid. In 1944, the Allies controlled much of the continental waters through which he would have to transit, and the beginning of the journey was the most dangerous. U-864 had to pass undetected through the North Sea, under the control of the British Royal Navy as part of its blockade of the area. Many British ships patrolled in search of submarines. Wolfram decided to stay close to the coast and allow the German coastal installations and corrals to protect him if an attack approached. U-864 left Kiel on December 5, 1944, but ran aground while passing through the Kiel Canal.

The captain decided to repair the ship in Bergen, Norway, before moving forward. While she was stationed at Bergen, the corral in which U-864 was being repaired was hit on 12 January 1945 by 12,000-pound Tall Boy bombs dropped by 32 Lancaster bombers of the British Royal Air Force. On February 5, 1945, U-864 left Ella's dock in Bergen and began the long journey to Japan across the North Sea. The submarine captain did not know that weeks before, the British, who had deciphered the Enigma code, decoded messages related to U-864's mission, and decided to set a trap to capture or destroy it. The British HMS Venturer was sent to Fedje, Norway, to hunt down submarine 864.

HMS Venturer HMS Venturer was the first of the new British V-class submarines. Compared to U-864, which carried 22 torpedoes, the Venturer It was a much smaller and shorter-range submarine that carried eight torpedoes. Only four could be fired at a time, but it was 50 percent faster

underwater

, at about ten miles per hour. Under the command of 25-year-old Lieutenant James S. Launders, who is credited with sinking 12 German surface ships, HMS Venturer took position on February 6, 1945. The Venturer had

only

two methods of finding a submarine enemy, either by hydrophones or active sonar. Hydrophones were useful, but the range was minimal.

The sonar has an extended range, but it gave away the submarine's position. Another problem was that the ship's torpedoes were designed to attack ships on the surface, not underwater. Launders decided to rely on short-range hydrophones and set out in pursuit of U-boat 864. The thrill of the hunt On February 6, U-864 passed Fedje undetected, but one of the engines began to fail and Wolfram ordered to return to Bergen. It was either that or continue with the mission, but the trip was long and he wanted to be cautious. A signal received specified that an escort would be waiting for him at Hellisøy on February 10.

On 9 February, Venturer heard the noise of U-864's diesel engine in the open sea and saw the submarine's snorkel with her periscope. Launders slid the Venturer behind the underwater submarine and began following it. The hunt had begun. HMS Venturer followed U-864 for the next few hours. U-864 then began to perform evasive maneuvers, dodging from side to side, which meant that she had probably detected the British presence behind. Launders decided to be patient and wait for U-864 to reach the surface before launching the torpedoes. Still, he didn't know that the German submarine could operate underwater for extended periods thanks to its snorkel.

After more than three hours of chasing, the Venturer's battery begins to die. Sooner or later she would have to surface. If that happened, Launders would lose the opportunity to shoot down U-864. He had to attack U-864 while she remained submerged. There was no other option. He calculated a three-dimensional intercept for the torpedoes and determined the depth of U-864 by the height of the snorkel mast above the water. At 12:12 on 9 February, Venturer fired four of her eight torpedoes in sequence, 17.5 seconds between each launch. Launders timed the torpedoes, knowing that Captain Wolfram would evade them. Once the first charge was fired, HMS Venturer reloaded the last 4 torpedoes of it and began evasive maneuvers.

Submarine 864 evaded the first three shots with astonishing agility, but after Launders launched the second pair of torpedoes, the fourth headed toward its target and hit the center of the submarine, breaking it in two. The submarine fell more than 150 meters into the depths of the ocean. Operation Caesar ended in failure. The consequences Almost a century later, the remains of U-864 were found in 2003 by the Norwegian Navy, two miles from Fedje. The scientists discovered that the cargo of liquid mercury had been slowly leaking from the flasks into the open ocean. Norwegian authorities decided to bury the wreck under tons of sand to prevent further damage to the surrounding ecosystem.