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  Editorial and photography by Vic Verlinden
   
 

A year had already passed since the Germans conquered Poland and the Second World War was in heavy swing. In the shipyard of Deutsche Werke AG in Kiel the German war machine was very busy building a new submarine, the U455.  Built to reinforce the fleet of attacking submarines it was equipped with no less than 5 torpedo tubes. Powerful twin diesel engines enabled the submarine to exceed speed of over 17 knots at the surface. Two electro motors provided thrust below the water.  June 21st would mark the day of the launching of this new and powerful wolf of the sea. Captain Hans Heinrich Giesler would be the first to command this new sub and her crew of 51 personal. The first task required several tests before this new submarine could join the ranks of the pack. The crew had to be trained to handle all situations and emergencies for help below the waves of the Atlantic from depth charges, enemy attack, and equipment failure would not be possible.

   
 

The wolves are attacking !

   
 

When the boat and the crew were finally operational they were divided in a wolf pack. That means that they attacked together with other submarines as a pack of wolves. The advantage of this tactic is that they could always attack from several sides at the time and that they were still able to fire a torpedo in case one of the other submarines did not have one any more. Especially the convoys of allied ships had to fear these wolf packs. It was on the 3rd May 1942 that the English cargo “British Workman “ was spotted by the captain of the U455. Due to the bad weather the ship was out of course and did no longer navigate in the safe convoy. The tanker of almost 7000 ton was on the Atlantic Ocean at that time and hit by a torpedo.

 

  The tanker took immediately water and began to sink. Seven members of the crew did not survive this disaster but Captain Wilson could happily be saved. One month later an other British cargo of more than 6000 ton was torpedoed by the U455. On the 22nd November the commands of the submarine were transmitted to the 25 years old Captain-Lieutenant Hans-Martin Scheibe. She could now take part again of the operations in the region of the Mediterranean Sea. That is how the French cargo Rouenais sunk before the Moroccan coast. It happened on the 25th July 1943. All this time the submarine got only once into big problems when she was attacked during the tanking-up in full sea by an American bomber. Fortunately she could plunge down in time without any damage. On the 28th March 1944 the U455 could still have contact with her base of operations. A few days later, when they called the submarine by the radio, it remained deathly hush on the other side. Since that date there was no news any more from the U455.
   
  Historical Images: Helmut Spitzer / Gerard Schwarz

 
  Photo Caption: Descending down the shot line, the team descents to the wreckage at a depth of 364 feet / 111 meters.
   
Photo Caption: Wreck explorer Pim Van Der Horst illuminates the hall of the German Submarine - U455  
   
   
 

The organization of an expedition
   
 

When we intended to reorganize an expedition to the wreck of the U455 with the Dir-rebreather team only 2 teams were on the wreck before us. As with former expeditions Pim Van Der Horst brought an international group of technical divers together to realize the dive. The team was made up with divers from Portugal, Croatia, Italy, Netherlands, Germany and France. They were all experienced rebreather divers with years of experience. Our base was Santa Margarita Ligure, a little village nearby Portofino. Bruno had his divers centre here, as well as a good boat to realize the voyage to the wreck. As the weather was bad, with high wind, Bruno informed us that we had to delay the dive. The only thing we could do was to be patient for a few days. When the weather cleared up and the wind died out on the third day our units were already ready and the teams could be sorted out. The first dive I would make in the second group was with Armando Ribeiro and Oscar Corna. After talking over the divers plan and the bail out procedure we were ready to dive and the boat was loaded with hundreds of kilos of diving material and cameras.

   
 

Unexpected problems
   
 

It was soon obvious that we would not have a very pleasant voyage to the wreck when we left the harbour. The wind died out but we had waves of almost 1 meter height and the boat had a very hard time. About 1 hour later we arrived above the place where the wreck had to be and we started to search with the sonar. Meanwhile we had to speed up and test the rebreathers as well as all the other material for the last time. After about 30 minutes the boat was on the line of the wreck and we could start the diving. I was the third of my team to spring overboard and grabbed the line for the descent. Very soon it was obvious that there was a heavy streaming at the surface. I needed al my strength in order to reach the descent line and wanted go down but was unable to do it because of the heavy streaming. The descent line slipped trough my gloves because I did not have a grip on the rope. When I wanted to give it up I saw that there was a second thicker rope going to the wreck. This time I succeeded and at 20 m depth there was less streaming. The visibility was not so good, probably due to the bad weather of the last days. On a depth of 80 m I saw the bow of the submarine standing up in an angle of 45 degrees. The dive rudders at the front side were distinctly visible. I continued my way along the hull that was still intact and the conning tower appeared just before me. While I was turning around the conning tower and making pictures I saw that the trap door was open. The U455 probably hit a mine when trying to come to the surface. Beyond the conning tower the two supports for the fast shoot guns stood still on deck but the guns were not there any more. I was now on a depth of 111 meter and swam back to the hull. Because the whole boat stood up in an oblique line I could explore the bottom of the hull and saw again the two intact dive runners just above me. My bottom time was already 20 minutes now and it was high time to go up. After about 2 hours I could finally see the surface again. Due to the long deco time I had cramp in both my legs when I wanted to swim back to the boat. Nevertheless I was very delighted about my first dive on this wreck.
   
 
 

Top right: Divers inspect the open hatch located in the conning tower.

Middle right: A digital depth gage shows a maximum depth of 111 meter / 364 feet.

Lower right: Packed to the hilt with rebreathers, this small truck transported the team’s gear to the dive vessel.
   
 
 
Photo Caption: Divers illuminate the underneath section of the U455’s depth rudders  
   
   
 

Priceless wreck
   
 

The next day I was taking part of Pim’s team and the descent was much easier because there was less streaming. The visibility was a lot better too and we could see till 15 m away. It was more obvious now how unique the wreck was due to the 45 degrees it stood on the bottom. One of these days the wreck will probably fall down but meanwhile it was a wonderful experience to swim underneath the wreck. Once again I constantly made pictures during the dive and we discovered that the eye of the attack-periscope was still in position. The back side of the submarine collapsed totally due to the impact on the bottom and is wrapped up with fishing nets. I absolutely want to keep away from it because it is not only dangerous for fishes but especially for divers too. As I do not want to extend this second dive in two days I make my way towards the climbing line with my buddies. On the way we saw that the anchor of the submarine was still in the anchor gate. Back to the firm line we gave the ok sign to each other and started the long climbing without too much streaming. Once back on the boat every body agreed that we had two exceptional dives on a wreck that is unique in the whole world.
   
 
Photo Caption: Luc Braeuer (left) and Marc Braeuer  (right) stands beside two living members of the U455's original crew, Helmut Spitzer (L) and Gerard schwarz  (R).
   

 
   
  Divers left to right:

Vic Verlinden, Nicolas Schiavon, Armando Ribeiro, Holger Berghauser, Dennis Blom, and Pim van der Horst