In Indonesia divers came across an old wreck in relatively shallow waters in November that authorities feel is one of the two German U-boats lost in the area. The candidates are both Type IXC/40 submarines. One, U-183 sank on April 23, 1945, after being hit by a torpedo from the U.S. Balao-class submarine, USS Besugo (SS-321). The second, U-168, sank on Oct. 6, 1944, after being hit by a torpedo fired by the Dutch O-class submarine, HNLMS Zwaardvisch.
U-168 during the War.
Shinatria Adhityatama, an undersea archeologist with the National Archeology Center told the Jakarta Post:
“We suspect that the submarine we’ve found is the U-168, which was built in Germany in 1942,” Shinatria said, adding that 40 percent of the submarine’s hull was damaged.
He said that the team also found skeletons, presumed to be of members of the U-boat’s crew, remains of a torpedo, a telescope, shoes and cups inside the submarine. “The discovery is one of Indonesia’s best finds in maritime archeological research,” Priyatno Hadi of the National Archeology Center said.
Kinda grusome stuff here:
Inside the submarine, Navy divers discovered multiple items, such as cutlery and shoes. “They even found two human skeletons on the hatch,” said Navy Mayor (P) Yudo Ponco Ari, the Commander of the Third Detachment of the Navy’s elite Frogmen Command (Kopaska) of the Eastern Region Fleet (Armatim) in Surabaya on Thursday, December 11, 2014. Ten Kopaska divers participated in the search.
Either way, lets hope it remains intact as a war memorial to those sailors lost beneath the waves.
