U-455

By Eva Bacchetta NAUI 37885 Over the past years, many histories of lost ships have come to the attention of divers like us, those who are joined by the passion for exploration. We talk together about diving on wrecks, and then we find them, learn about their history, and dive them. The secrets of the sea become known.

This August - much to our big surprise - we found one of the most mysterious and controversial wrecks of the past years among the wreck-hunters of the Ligurian Sea: a German submarine reported lost in April 1944 somewhere in the sea in from of Portofino.

Thanks to some precise indications given to us by the father of a team member, we commenced to sonar-scan a specific portion of sea where he thought the submarine could be. On August first, we undertook our first search.

The bottom of the sea in that area is about 120 meters deep, but the sonar clearly showed us that something was there rising, from the bottom to about 80 meters.

Diving so deep is not easy, caution and careful planning must be balanced with the enthusiasm and our wish of adventure.

Our team was composed of Lorenzo del Veneziano, NAUI Tech trimix instructor, who dives using a Buddy Inspiration closed-circuit rebreather, Gianluca Bozzo and Massimo Croce as deep-assistants, while Loredana, Roberto, and Peter would provide further assistance by bringing with them extra cylinders in case of emergency. On board the boat, Eva, Massimo, and Guido completed our team.

As it turned out, the sonar missed the "something" lying in the abyss right under the boat, and Lorenzo -once on the bottom-was obliged to abandon the main line and to swim using a link reel. After about 20 meters he felt like he was being observed by inflexible eyes, blue like the blue surrounding him. Raising his head, Lorenzo realized he was now under the hull of what he reckoned must be the submarine. His heart was filled by many different moods: fright, respect for those who are reposing in that iron tomb, but also the feeling of victory for having resuscitated a forgotten history that had not been much more than a legend till that moment. More explorations and further details have strengthened the hypothesis that it is indeed the mysterious U-Boat list as "missing" by the German Marine on April 6, 1944.

During the entire month of August we ere honored by the presence of experienced divers such as Gabriele Paparo, Luigi Casati, J Jackes Bolanz, all using closed circuit rebreathers. Lorenzo has now dived on that site with them many times, taking lots of pictures and one movie, and it becomes clear that the wreck is clearly a German submarine, class VIIC, and more specifically the "U-455."

The hull is intact for two-thirds of the length, and the boat is fixed on the bottom of the sea with her bow rising up, as if in a desperate attempt to escape toward the surface. On the starboard side, it is possible to perceive the diving rudders. On the port side, the anchor and links on the hull are encrusted with oysters. The ballast-tank openings are visible as well as hydrophones. On the deck, it is possible to see the remains of teak wood decking, the anchor winch, and an emergency buoy.

Like a queen rising above, the undefeated conning tower is watching her first visitors after sixty years of loneliness. We can see the wave deflector, the afterdeck. On the upper side of the conning tower are the antenna, the periscope, and the compass, all intact. It is evident that the submarine was sailing below the surface when she sank. The main hatch looks open, almost as if to invite visitors to enter, but invitation ends there; down below deck everything is sealed, closed and secret. The hull astern seems intact for about twenty meters; further the afterdeck is demolished and destroyed. The propeller and what is perhaps a rudder are still visible, buried among framing and fragments.

The German submarine U-455 is given as "missing" by the Kriegsmarine in the Ligurian Sea, and she looks to be right here. We are witness to a finding that is important in the history of that past war and for history of diving.

Brief history of U-455

the U-455 was built by Deutsche Werke AG, Kiel Gaaden. She was launched on April 21, 1941, and she was a Class VIIC U-boat. She served as school-boat in the Fifth Fleet at Kiel from August till December 1941. In January 1942 she was transferred to the Seventh Fleet at St Nazaire, where he remained till February 1944. Thereafter she was employed in the 29th Fleet at Toulon.

U-455 was under the command of Hans Heinrich Giesser from August 1941 till November 1942, and thereafter she operated under command of Hans Martin Scheibe.

She made ten missions both in the atlantic and in the Mediterranean, where she acted together with other German ships as part of the famous war tactic of Admiral Donitz; the "wolf pack." During her career, U-455 sank three units, two British ships, the Geo H Jones and the British Workman, and one French ship, the Rouennais. On February 22, 1944, she left toulon for her final trip. She was reported as missing on April 6, 1944, in the Ligurian Sea.

Sources - Fourth Quarter 2005 copyright NAUI. All rights reserved.

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