Early 1945 In coastal waters of Norway, a British submarine pursued a German sub. Both ships sank to depth and an unusual situation developed. So far, no underwater attack by an enemy ship, also at depth, has been successful.
American, British and Canadian troops advanced in the west of Europe, in the east the Germans were pushed back by the Red Army, preparing to occupy East Prussia. To contain the advance, Hitler decided to use Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz and his submarines. Nazi Germany wanted to share experimental Wunderwaffe technology with Japan.
Germany and Japan are relatively small countries; moreover, they were separated by the spheres of influence of the allies, huge territories. It was decided to use submarines. Between July 1944 and January 1945, six submarines delivered strategically important raw materials (tin, rubber or tungsten) from the territories occupied by Japan to the Third Reich.
The German submarine U-864 carried one of the Wunderwaffe technologies. Spare parts and assembly diagrams for Messerschmitt-163 "Kometa" and Messerschmitt-262 "Lastochka" were loaded on board. The operations were codenamed "Caesar". Messerschmitt engineers also sailed from Germany, including Deputy Chief of Engineering Rolf von Hlingensperg and Ricklef Schomerus, chief aerodynamics expert for the company's advanced jet aircraft division. And two Japanese experts: rocket fuel specialist Toshio Nakai and acoustic homing torpedo specialist Tadao Yamato. They received the information necessary for the mass production of "miracle weapons" first-hand. Yamato spent four long years in Germany, and Nakai, a graduate of the prestigious Imperial University of Tokyo, was one of the finest civilian researchers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The knowledge they gained overseas was vital to Japan's military objectives and the island nation's reproduction of technological wonders carried by submarine. Experts hoped that German technology in the hands of Japanese workers would turn the tide of the Pacific War in Japan's favor.
U-864 is a type IX D2 submarine with increased autonomy, capable of long-range cruises. Its captain, Ralph-Reimar Wolfram, was relatively inexperienced and seemed like a curious choice as commander for such an important task. However, by the end of 1944, the losses of German submarines were such that there were not enough experienced captains. The period that the German submariners called the "happy time" when their wolf packs roamed the oceans with impunity is over. Their fleet suffered heavy losses. The hunters are now prey.
The crew of U-864 had to make two stops before heading to distant Asia: a long stay at the Karljohansvern naval base in the tiny Norwegian village of Horten near Oslo, and then a one-day stopover to pick up additional supplies and refuel off the coast in Kristiansand. From there she was to cross the equator in the South Atlantic, round the Cape of Good Hope in the Indian Ocean, and then south from Madagascar to Penang in Malaysia - a distance of almost twelve thousand nautical miles.
Horten carried out underwater testing and certification of diving equipment installed in October 1944. The snorkel would allow her to take in fresh air for the crew and diesel engines, sinking to periscope depth, and thus cover long distances unnoticed by the enemy. The Germans first learned about this device in 1940, when they discovered it on a captured Dutch submarine. But only at the end of the war, when advances in Allied radar technology improved their skills in the long-range detection of submarines, Dönitz ordered snorkels to be built into all new boats coming off the assembly line. U-864, entered service prior to Dönitz's order, required modification. In Horten, Norway, U-864 spent most of December testing its scuba diving and diving systems, and to some extent the endurance of its crew, through a series of repetitive and difficult tests.
After replenishing fuel and supplies, U-864 departed Kristiansand on 29 December to begin its passage eastward, cruising on the surface with two escort patrol boats. They soon parted, the submarine slipping to periscope depth as it left the Skagerrak.
However, U-864 did not go far offshore. Some time later, Wolfram radioed: something is wrong with the snorkel. The problem was deemed serious, and operations command ordered him to travel to Farsund, a tiny fishing village about fifty miles west of Kristiansand, just outside the entrance to the strait.
For Wolfram, the problems suddenly got worse. Before he had time to order to slowly turn to the port side, the submarine found itself in shallow water and flew into the rocks. The uneven cliffs of the Norwegian fjords could easily damage the ship's hull. Tungsten misjudged the depth or shape of the strait. The fate of Operation Caesar and the submarine itself hung in the balance. Wolfram immediately ordered the crew to inspect the submarine, he was informed that there was no internal damage to the hull. The captain of the German submarine was lucky, in the keel of U-864 they transported a dangerous cargo - 67 tons of mercury. This is an essential element for the production of weapons. Mercury has often been used as a detonator. There were 1,857 vessels on board, each containing two liters of mercury. One vessel weighed about 30 kg. The mercury load replaced most of the lead ballast. The engineers and mechanics at Farsund were unable to solve the problems associated with the snorkel. On January 1, 1945, U-864 departed from Farsund for a large Norwegian city to the north. Due to the breakage of the snorkel, she was forced to move on the surface under escort and slowly moved forward.
The submarine drew too much attention to itself, although it was carrying out a secret mission. British intelligence officers have already decoded information intercepted from the Germans. They learned that Germany had sent a Wunderwaffe to Japan. Allied Command ordered the elimination of U-864 when the submarine is most vulnerable.
On February 8, 1945, the German submarine U-864 under the command of Wolfram left Bergen after being repaired. Wolfram headed for the Shetland Islands: 160 km north of Scotland. But soon a problem arose: one of the submarine's engines was working intermittently. Loud intermittent vibrations, gradual decrease in engine performance and, over time, possibly even complete breakdown. The disappointment aboard the sub had to be palpable. Not only could the engine noise get the enemy's attention, but a breakdown in distant waters, far from any hope of help, would be catastrophic. Wolfram immediately contacted command to report his position. He was ordered to dive and await an escort.
On February 2, 1945, the Venturer departed from Lerwick Submarine Base under the command of 25-year-old Lieutenant James H. Launders. The Venturer is a Class V submarine of a range of maneuverable, small submarines developed by the Royal Navy for use in coastal waters; they were less than half the size of U-864. Launders and his 36-man crew had combat experience - in November 1944, they sank U-771 during her surface voyage in Andfjord in northern Norway.
It was planned to carry out the operation near the southern port of Bergen. By patrolling these waters, it was possible to intercept German ships as they returned to base. When the Venturer got there, the crew received an encrypted message from headquarters. The order was given to patrol the coastal waters off Fedje Island. Launders received orders to retreat to Fedya and found himself directly in the path of U-864.
On the morning of February 9, 1945, the acoustician on the Venturer heard a faint noise. At about 10:00, his first lieutenant discovered the submarine in the periscope, at the moment when the commander of U-864 searched the periscope for his ships to be escorted to the base. U-864 was powered by a single diesel engine using a snorkel. But the data wasn't enough to attack. In addition to bearing to the target, distance was required, and preferably also course and speed. An unusually long period for the submarine to determine the elements of target movement followed. The Venturer walked parallel and to the right. Both boats were in a situation for which the crews were not prepared. Launders expected U-864 to surface and thus provide him with an easy target. But it became clear that the enemy was not going to emerge and was walking using a zigzag. According to indirect data (change in bearing depending on his own maneuvers) Launders gradually got the distance to the target and was able to estimate the speed and length of the zigzag knees. For the calculations, he used a tool of his own invention, essentially a specialized circular logarithmic scale. After the war, both the tool and the very method of attacking on bearings became the standard. The method later formed the basis for an algorithm for solving a 3-dimensional problem of torpedo firing. From time to time, both boats risked raising the periscope. Launders used this to clarify bearings. After three hours of chasing the German submarine, Venturer Captain James Launders took the risk based on U-864's movements. The risk paid off. Hearing the launch of the torpedoes, the U-864 team undertook evasive maneuvers, avoiding being hit by the first three torpedoes, but the fourth hit. The explosion broke the hull of the boat in half. All 73 crew members were killed; no one was saved. This was the first time that one submarine sank another while both were submerged.
In April 1945, Admiral Karl Dönitz sent a second transport submarine to the Far East on roughly the same course as U-864. The Type XB U-234 carried many Wunderwaffe of 240 tons of cargo, as well as a dozen extra urgent passengers, including two Japanese naval engineers.
On May 10, U-234 surfaced and the captain received Dönitz's final order to surrender. Lieutenant Commander Fehler will obey orders and surrender on May 17 to a pair of US destroyers south of Grand Banks. Shortly before the arrival of the American boarding group, the Japanese engineers retired to their cabins and committed suicide.
When the Americans searched the submarine, half a ton of uranium oxide was found on board along with the rest of the cargo. The further fate and nature of the cargo are unknown to the present.
The Norwegian Navy discovered a WWII shipwreck of the German U-864 submarine in March 2003. Since then, there has been debate, polls, and policy debate about how best to deal with pollution from a cargo of mercury in a sunken submarine and the surrounding seabed. In 2014, the Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) conducted a survey of the sunken boat and presented a thorough study of mercury pollution prevention measures. The survey showed that containers with mercury gradually corrode in seawater. Removing debris and contaminated masses from the seabed in the vicinity of the sunken ship will spread contamination beyond the already affected area. Burying the boat under a 12-meter layer of sand is the best and most environmentally friendly solution.
The Norwegian government made the decision based on numerous reports and studies carried out by the NCA with the support of a wide range of experts, who concluded that disposal is the best and most environmentally friendly solution for U-864. For 2019, NOK 30 million has been allocated for engineering, tender and general preparatory work. The capping is likely to be completed by the summer of 2020.
