The OET's most recent mission embarked on a new expedition in May. Its wreckage was discovered on June 10, 2001, "nearly a mile below the Gulf surface." A pin-up coffee shop is now open outside West Alabama Ice House in MontroseĪmong those is the 1941 German submarine U-166, which was sunk by Allied forces.How two chefs' quest for authenticity upended the New Orleans Indian food scene.Gunman shoots 3 at Texas fair before being shot by deputies.Father of Uvalde victim immortalizes shooting with chilling tattoo.Family of Houston nurse charged in deadly Los Angeles car crash launches mental health resource site.New Yorker moves to Texas and shares 'culture shock' with viral TikTok.Marjorie Taylor Greene compares electric airplanes to slave ships at Texas Youth Summit.The OET has documented a number of unearthed sunken ships on the ocean floor. RELATED: Restoration of WWII-era plane offers pilot's family closure Its mission is to educate the public on pure-ocean facts and history through ongoing discovery voyages. The remnants of those vessels can be seen today, thanks to the efforts and technology of institutes such as the Ocean Exploration Trust, a foundation created in 2008 by revered oceanographer and explorer Dr. The threat of U-boat activity in the Gulf was so feared that some south Texas residents said "there are so many German U-boats in the Gulf, it's a wonder they don't torpedo each other," historical writer Logan Hawks said. "Oil was critical to the allied forces in Europe and the Pacific, and the ports of Galveston, Houston and New Orleans were some of the busiest oil-exporting terminals in the United States." "Their primary mission was to sink ships departing from ports in Texas and Louisiana, disrupting oil shipments and impeding the flow of military hardware and supplies to the European front," the THC reports.
The enemy submarines posed such a danger to the coast that cities such as Galveston, Sabine Pass, Port Arthur and Beaumont reportedly instituted "blackouts to reduce the cities' visibility" to the enemy boats. That attack had only one surivor of 55 men on board.īoth of the U-boats were part of Nazi Germany's "Monsoon Group," which attacked allied ships in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea."Research suggests there were more than 20 different U-boats operating in the Gulf in 19," the Texas Historical Commission explains. The daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that the wreck could also be that of the U-183, which was sunk on Apin the Java Sea. Twenty-three German sailors reportedly died in the attack, and the captain and 26 crew members survived. According to a report by German newspaper Die Welt, the Dutch vessel fired six torpedos from 900 meters, but only one of the explosives detonated. The U-boat was eventually torpedoed by a Dutch submarine while en route to Australia. The researchers believe the wreck is that of the U-168, which German naval forces used to successfully sink several allied ships. "This is an extraordinary find that will certainly provide useful information about what took place in the Java Sea during World War II." "This is the first time we have found a foreign submarine from the war in our waters," said Bambang Budi Utomo, head of the research team at the National Archeology Center that found the vessel off the coast of Java. There were also reportedly 17 human skeletons buried in the wreckage, and more bones may yet be discovered. The first inspection uncovered binoculars, batteries and dinner plates emblazoned with swastikas, according to an AFP report printed by the newspaper The Star on Thursday. Experts say it's an unprecedented find that could provide insight into how the war was fought in the South West Pacific theater. 23, 2013 - Researchers have apparently discovered the remains of a World War II-era German U-boat and the skeletons of its crew off the coast of Indonesia.