Niagara Falls| Divers from the U.S coast
guard took part this morning, in a delicate wreck recovery operation to
bring to the surface a Nazi submarine discovered two weeks ago at the
bottom of Lake Ontario.
The U-boat was spotted for the first time
by amateur scuba divers in late January and they had contacted the
authorities. Archaeologists associated with Niagara University of and
master divers from the U.S Coast Guard were mobilized on site to
determine what it was, and they soon realized that they were dealing
with a German submarine that sank during World War II.
A wreck recovery vessel of the Great
Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society was mandated to refloat the ship and
bring it back to Niagara Falls, where it must be restored before
becoming a museum ship. The delicate recovery operation took nearly 30
hours to complete, but the submarine was finally brought down on the
bank with relative ease.
he submarine was identified as the
UX-791, a unique experimental German submarine, based on the U-1200
model, and known to have participated in the “Battle of the St.
Lawrence”. It was reported missing in 1943 and was believed to have
been sunk near the Canadian coast.
Professor Mark Carpenter, who leads the
team of archaeologists, believes that the U-boat could have traveled up
the St-Lawrence River, all the way to the Great Lakes, where it intended
to disturb the American economy.
A report from the dated from February
1943 suggests, that the ship could have attacked and destroyed three
cargo ships and two fishing vessels, even damaging the USS Sable
(IX-81), an aircraft carrier of the U.S. navy that was used for training
in the Great Lakes, before finally being sunk by anti-sub grenades
launched by a Canadian frigate.
“We
have known for a long time that the Nazis had sent some of their
U-boats in the St-Lawrence River, but this is the first proof that they
actually reached the Great Lakes,” Professor Carpenter told reporters.
“This could explain the mysterious ship disappearances that took place
in the region in 1943, and the reported “Battle of Niagara Falls” which
had always been dismissed as a collective hallucination caused by fear.”
The restoration of the submarine could
take more than two years, but oncecompleted, the museum ship is expected
to become one of the major touristattractions of the region.
Source: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/
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