Wreck of submarine U-1206 found

The vessel, which sank at the end of World War II off the coast of Scotland 67 years ago, was found by divers from the Buchan Divers group. The crowning success did not come easily, as the search took as long as 12 years!

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A few days ago, conditions allowed a team of four to carry out a dangerous and deep dive. It was the first time since II 1945. When about 20km off Cruden Bay, at a depth of 86m, human eyes saw the unlucky U-boat.

“The feeling when we saw him was incredible. A mixture of excitement and joy coursed through my veins. After all, we were the first people to see this unique piece of history, in over 67 years! Not without significance was the fact that we had been trying to track down this wreck for a long time and finally succeeded. The unusual thing is that you usually find a wreck and then you learn about its history, but here it was quite the opposite, ” said expedition leader Jim Burke.

Well, you should know that the submarine U-1206 has quite an unusual history. The keel for it was laid on 12 June 1943 in Danzig, but it was put into service on 16 March 1944. The ship’s emblem was a white stork with a green beak and green legs, placed on a black shield.

After routine training and several independent patrols, a few weeks before the end of the war – on 14 April 1945 – the ship sank as a result of… a toilet failure.

It was all due to a high-pressure valve system designed to allow the U-boats to dive even deeper to avoid Allied attacks. According to historical sources, one of the crew members, wanting to drain the water, unscrewed the wrong valve. This caused a chain of events that ultimately led to the creation of poisonous gas and the necessity to surface in enemy territory.

The ship was spotted and attacked by Allied aircraft. As a result of the attack and sinking of U-1206, 3 sailors were killed and 37 were taken prisoner.

Source: scotsman.com, wikipedia.org