+Billy Rigney Sadly not you have to remember she's a closed wreck with the exception of where she broke in half. the Remains can't float away if they can't get out.
Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu True, im not a boat expert and forgot to think that it was a submarine as ludicrous as that sounds! We all have them days haha. Very sad for the trapped souls down there though and it must have been one of the worst ways to go too
This is amazing footage. U-166, an IX-C boat, wasn't even two years old when she was lost with all hands. A sister IX-C, U-505, can be seen in the Museum Of Science and Industry in Chicago. Only 54 were built. I have an old Polaroid photo (1954) with my father standing in the foreground as U-505 was being cradled across Lake Shore Drive.
One of the Operation Drumbeat boats- the US was so badly unprepared for WW2 that there was no blackout on the coast and no antisubmarine patrols to speak of. For about two months German U-Boats ranged the US coast and the Caribbean at will- sinking ships within sight of people on shore. One U-Boat actually positioned itself between the merchant ship and the shore to avoid hitting civilians who were watching from the shore, before shelling the ship it intended to sink. Many of the ships sunk were vital tankers and it was a crisis point in the Battle of The Atlantic. Eventually, the USN got its act together, strengthened its defenses and the sinkings tailed off but not before a lot of men and ships were lost. According to records, the PC 566 did not sink it, it was sunk by aircraft on the 30th of July, 1942. From the hatches being closed we can safely assume that U-166 managed to dive before being depth bombed and sunk. A nasty way to die, I'm sure.
@@mikebritcom3171 Civilian might be a bit too broad of a statement, they were part of the merchant navy which had a tendency to arm their vessels so they could fight back, In my opinion any ships with guns on deck, no matter the crew, I consider legitimate targets during war operations. Remember that these men were fighting for their country and died doing so. The IX C types had a complement of 48 to 56.
@@mikebritcom3171 The crews of these boats had no choice but to fight for their country, and follow orders. Anyone who disobeyed orders faced the firing squad.
Sad and Sobering. Split in two. A horrific and sudden death to her and her crew. Yet also, very interesting. She is astonishingly well preserved. The worst seems to be that the wooden decking has been eaten away. Very little growth or as much metal degradation as I would expect for something being exposed at the bottom as long as this boat has been. Lack of oxygen for the reason as to the state of preservation? Or something else?
it is surmised that as she was diving to avoid Allied ships a depth charge landed right on top of the area in the sub where torpedos were stored causing a chain reaction explosion and breaking the U-boat into 2 sections.
@@Birdbike719 Agree on the first, disagree on the 2nd, Look at the hull, its all caved in, certainly a direct hit with a depth charge, but a subsequent explosion from stored torps... unlikely. The sub was almost certainly carrying some variant of a G7 torpedo, most likely a G7e, which carried over quarter of a ton of a mixture of dipicrylamine and TNT as its warhead. The hull is showing no signs of being forced out from an internal explosion, which if those torpedo warheads had detonated, would have left strong evidence of the hull being blown out. Also the warheads were relatively safe until they got armed, and that was only when they got put in the tubes. It would need a direct hit on the warhead to set that off, and that's impossible when the torps are inside the sub. Its more likely the sub received a direct hit from at least one, if not more, depth charges, which caved the hull in, and most likely split in two when it hit the seabed due to a weakened structure form the depth charges.
@@roadsweeper1 The two pieces are more than 100 feet apart. There was definitely more than a depth charge that blew the two pieces of the boat that far apart. I believe they were possibly loading aft tunes one and two when they were struck with the fatal charges possibly or moving them from storage to aft tubes. She definitely took a very rare depth charge to the stern deck but I do believe from distance of wreckage she definitely had a internal explosion pushing the two pieces away from each other.
The U-166 must have made a very speedy decent. The retractable antenna is still extended and seeing it bent back like that tells me they made a crash dive and what ever damage they had took them to the bottom.
Please see my comment above. It appears that a depth charge exploded right at the boat and set off some of the boat's torpedoes as well as the depth charge explosion. It's pretty much blown in half. It went down FAST after that explosion.
Most of that is crush depth damage. Depth charges were not powerful enough to tear a boat in half. They would crack the pressure hull and cause massive flooding. When she reached crush depth, she would crumple like a tin can.
@@tramlink8544 possible but highly unlikely. Depth charges cause overpressure of the hull to create a breach, they don't explode like a bomb. Even one exploding in contact with the hull is unlikely to cause a sympathetic explosion of the torpedoes. More possible is a hot run in a tube that could have lead to an explosion of the warhead from overheating in the tube.
@@tramlink8544 The torpedo storage is forward. The break is over the diesel engine room. This points to severe depth charge damage and final breakup due to crush depth being exceeded.
Interesting side story....It was determined in 2014 that U-166 was actually sunk by US Navy PC 566, not the Coast Guard Widgeon seaplane as originally thought. Apparently the Captain of PC 566 was removed from command after the engagement with U-166 as the Navy thought he had botched the attack.
at least they got it right at the end. Initial credit for the sinking of U-166 had been given to a Grumman G-44 Widgeon, but the position of the wreck made it clear that this should have gone to the submarine chaser PC-566.On 16 December 2014, the Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus posthumously awarded the captain of PC-566, then-LCDR Herbert G. Claudius, USNR (later CAPT USN), the Legion of Merit with a Combat "V" device for heroism in battle and credited him with the sinking of the U-boat. "Seventy years later, we now know that Capt. Claudius's report after the action was absolutely correct," he said. "PC-566 did sink that U-boat, and it's never too late to set the record straight." - Brian Clark Howard (19 December 2014). "72 Years Later, Snubbed Captain Credited With Downing German U-Boat". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018.
Numbers are skewed regarding German U-boats. There were over 1,600 U-boats built, each on average had a 50 man crew. If you do the math that's 80,000 men. Over 700 U-boats were sunk, most of those men didn't survive. So 30,000 Kia on a sub was a conservative number
I question your numbers. My uncle was a skipper on both a type 7 and type 9. He was sunk twice and by miracle of god lived. These wrecks are war graves to the kids who died in them. Respect them as such.
The U-Boat U166 is Type IX and the commander was Hans-Günther Kuhlmann. They begin the journey the 17:th of June 1942 and sanked four ships of 7595 ton together. U166 was sunk 1:st of August 1942. The german U-boat crews was the most bravest men during WW2.
Actually, one of the craft sunk was a tiny coastal sailing boat that carried agricultural products (84 tons, from the Dominican Republic) and another was a small motor-driven fishing boat (American, based in Miami, only 10 tons). Both were sunk by gunfire. Only two ships were sunk by torpedoes, one was the Robert E. Lee.
@O D GREEN Yep and the Americans shouldnt have been in japan killing, just like the Russians shouldnt have been in Germany killing. Can't forget the Japanese! In war everyone is the good guy and the bad guy, get over it
Or the subs,I suppose they need paper pushers, and the toilet rolls always need replacing, it's a shame you don't use your real name. never mind carry on the good work, oh and don't try to troll adults
Beppe my father was a WWII veteran as were almost all of his circle of friends and our relatives. I never met a WWII veteran - from the western European theater anyway - who wasn't willing to shake hands with a veteran from the other side of the war. So if they buried the hatchet before they died, there's no reason for you to feel a need to carry on. Certainly don't suggest you're doing it in their memory, anyway.
Beppe Sapone Not all Germans are Nazis, if you lived an evil military junta you would definitely be conscripted, right? When all the depth charges dropped around them, did you the only thing they thought about was the Nazi Idealogy?
Talking about human remains, those U-boats quite commonly have entire compartments still sealed and airtight if they're not too deep. When I was in the US Navy I had a few drinks with a retired deep sea diving dude, the guy's who breathe helium and dive to 1000' on a daily basis, insane. Anyhow, he said back in the 1960s they started finding all kinds of stuff in the Mediterranean, planes, ships, and submarines with better SSS. According to him, he and a crew torched a part of a U-boat from something like 200', which is kinda deep but you could do it with scuba. They haul it on board, it's the aft torpedo room, they open the hatch, he said it was like cold rotten meat, it stank but there they were, four sailors, still in uniform, slumped on the deck. He said they were well preserved enough if he were handed a photo of one of the four he'd recognize him.
Great video footage, but its a shame the volume is far too low. I don't imagine it would be hard to fix that. I have my computer volume at 100 & I cant hear it.
As an American, having a Nazi submarine sunk in our backyard creates a different feeling. It is not lost that you and your allies wrote your comments on TH-cam in English.
As a German i'm really not emotional about that. I wonder what we could have learned and where we would be today if instead of in the war machinery we had put all that resources into peaceful sience.
As an american Skinhead How i long to raise this boat, restore it, fresh coat of Kriegsmarine gray, and vacation with it at PUT IN BAY. Wearing mt ben shermans in the sun atop the conning tower
in the sub's last few moments, the crew knew they were under attack, crash diving as fast as they could. standard emergency dive procedure was for all available sailors to run to the bow torpedo room, leaving all the bulk head doors open. the first few depth charges were close and probably fractured the pressure hull, but not fatally so. the bang sounds inside the boat must have been terrifying. the one depth charge that landed on the front deck blew the the torpedoes up and that huge blast blew off the bow. those crew in the torpedo room were the lucky ones, dying instantly. now with no lights, the boat diving an extreme angle and with a bad list, the survivors in the engine room would have had a few seconds to realize they were doomed. in the pitch black, water poured in through the open doors that facilitated the run to front of the boat. and those few seconds lightly felt like a life time...no one will ever get me in a submarine.
Wow, some people have no sense of the value of life in celebrating death. Enemies or not, they were human beings, with mothers, fathers, siblings, and maybe children back home. War is a fool's errand, one that we as humans are yet to shed.....RIP former foes.
For anyone who is about to comment “but it was Nazi’s, they deserve to die!” Not all Germans were Nazis, and most German soldiers were drafted into war regardless of political beliefs.
Yes, they were our enemies at the time, but they were brave young men fighting for their country, however misled they were. I agree. Respect please. Real families lost real sons, real fathers, real brothers, real husbands.
@@charliekill88 It's true what you say but at the same time the German nation bought in to the master race, world domination ideology. Imagine the same type of ideology being implemented or cultivated in other nations....we'd only stop laughing in order to haul those pricks out of office and string them up by their gonads. They would get zero percent co-operation. The German army slaughtered everything as the retreated...men women children animals...EVERYTHING! Who in the name of Christ does that!!!!
If I am correct, the U-boat sunk a ocean liner and was then fired upon by escort frigates. As the sub descended, the Coast Guard launched it's depth charges, one of which landed directly on the aft torpedo section. You can imagine their surprise when the ordinance exploded directly over their heads. It took the whole bow with it.
Let's just agree that your version of events is exaggerated, but similar 😐 The SS Robert E Lee was a local passenger steamer, not a transoceanic liner.
@@craftpaint1644, it has also been recorded that this boat sank pleasure craft as well.... With complete sarcasm, those were some very brave nazis...... The n word does NOT deserve capitalization.....
Its quite interesting, I always thought German Uboats stayed in the Atlantic to prevent supplies from reaching the UK, but this Uboat was in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana. I imagine civilians in the US coastline in fear of using their boats due to a German uboat hunting in the area.
I have dived the wreck of the M2 out from Lyme Regis on several occasions. She sits upright on the seabed at around 30 metres to the deck she went down with all hands apart from the aircraft pilot. After attempting to raise her failed she was sealed with the bodies inside. The wreck is to a fair degree still intact. The last time I dived it I noticed the bow planes were fully upward and found myself thinking was this the last desperate attempt to try to keep the sub on the surface. I chose not dive it again
My Great Uncle CPO John Jewell lies in M2, on his last leave he told his pregnant wife he had a very bad feeling about his upcoming tour for these M class subs had a bad reputation his widow never remarried and his daughter passed on in 2010.M1 lies furthur east in the Channel after colliding with a freighter as only one sea seal had been fitted to the hanger and 8" gun turret respectively.The French Sub Surcouff disappeared whilst escorting a convoy in 1942 and later one merchantman reported hitting something during the night but substained only minor damage her wreck has never been found. Is the hangar door lying partly open Larry?
I can imagine they knew they were going to die when their ears were wrecked by the loud sound of a direct hit breaking off the front of their killing machine 😐
My greatuncle served on the U-157. They were 52 crewmembers and they sunk on 13th of July 1942. He just turned 23 at that time. American ships and airplanes sunk them near Key West, Florida. They were never found
I’m very sorry your uncle died like this, and I hope Nautilus schedules a dive eventually, the subsequent results may give your family any necessary closure.. And we all get to see a very intricate piece of history. I’m also very surprised nobody has done a sonar scan yet of the site or sent an ROV down to check it out ( wreck lies approximately 700 meter deep water )
@@Leo55043 Yea same, I don't know why no one has ever found them.. There were 2 submarines in the gulf of Mexico that sunk (german ones) and one of them is the one in the video, the other one is the one in which my great-uncle died. Also, I noticed you said uncle xD, I'm 17 so it can't be my uncle. He was my grandmas brother
There are litterally hundreds of u boat wrecks in rivers and off the coast of America. What they dont mention is most of them were scuttled which means the occupants reached their destination, met another ship and sank the u boat. Wonder why?
If he is alive please Thank him for his service. He and all the allied soldiers literally saved the world. Imagine if Germany and their allies won the war. It was the men of WWII that inspired me to serve my country during Desert Storm.
Every video on TH-cam has someone in the comments who says "i was friends with that person" or "my father worked there" or "my grandfather spotted the submarine"! Sorry but at this point if you dont have proof just move on and keep it to yourself.
Zoes Dada how are you going to post proof in the comment section?? And I don't know about you but I'm not going to post a video or something just to prove anything to you... Let people write what they want dude. So why don't you move on and keep it to yourself buddy
Я никогда не видел такой ФАНТАСТИЧЕСКОЙ сохранности металла за столь длительное время нахождения в воде!! Даже такая деталь как тоненькая сетка на воздухозаборах дизелей и та сохранилась, это просто не реальная сохранность!! Жаль у лодки слишком сильные повреждения конструкции, её бы можно было бы достать...
Why does the video title says 1940, if in that year there were no sinkings of any vessels near the US coast ? Besides, the USA entered the war by the end of '41, and the U-166 was sunk in '42....
Thank You Nautilus. I recorded the whole expedition You guys did to this Sub. I must have well over 5 hours of it. Be cool if You Guys did some Japanese War Wrecks in the Pacific..........
Yes, you can see all three in the video, at different times. U-166 was a later Typ IX, the 88 mm (3.5 inch) gun was fitted to earlier boats but this one is a 105 (4 inch) gun.
Wonderful video. The three weapons shown are An 8.8cm deck gun forward of the conning tower. The angle gun atop the conning tower is 20mm Oerlikon and the one aft of the conning tower is a 40mm Bofors.
Actually, you are incorrect. The deck gun forward is a 105 mm, the aft gun is a 37mm, and the conning tower gun(s) are twin 20mm. This submarine was a Type IX-C and carried heavier guns than the Type VII because she was bigger and could support them.
Yesterday's enemy is tomorrow's friend. It is truly sad and unfortunate that our two great nations were ever in conflict. History is the fickle mistress of Mankind.
Yes, near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Florida was a favorite place for U-boats during the offensive soon after the US joined the war. There were ships carrying oil and petroleum products from the Gulf and Caribbean areas like Venezuela and Aruba, there were freighters with bauxite ore, and ships with food from the tropics. All heading for East Coast ports or on to Britain in the trans-Atlantic convoys had to pass the east coast of Florida.
I think it was Ballard that found this sub. A Captain was relieved of his duty when he claimed to have sunk a U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Ballard proved he did sink a u-boat, the depth charge landed on the bow of the boat while it was diving and exploded when it reached the depth it was set at. The remaining Son of this Captain received his Fathers declaration and had his honour restored. Ballard saved a man's honour and corrected history. I can't remember the documentary on this sub, but as a Canadian, I remember when that son received his dad's honour restored I had tears in my eyes. My brother and I were talking a while back and we are glad that our Dad has passed away and hero's like this Captain and my Dad don't see what the Dem's and Liberals are doing to our countries today. Men and women like them fought for our freedom and these Liberals today should be ashamed for what they are doing to our countries. To the men on that U-boat, to men like the Captain and my Dad, rest in peace. My Dad has quite a story as well. He was wounded in Holland and honourably discharged and sent back to Canada. He healed and relisted and went back to finish the war. I wish they told the whole story in this clip.
THANK GOD SHES IN SUCH DERP WATER NO SCAVANGERS CAN GET TO HER. MY DAD WAS 4 YEARS USN N ATLANTIC AND NORMANDY. I MISS HIM ABOUT OUR TALKS. TO THE MEMORY OF U166 CREW FAIR WIND AND FOLLOWING SEA.
The capabilities of the type XXI for example were highly exaggerated as of the 109 that were built none sank a ship or really completely finished their sea trials after construction. Best anybody can say is that the Allies copied over some of the design except the propulsion system because it was crap 😐
For the people that say they feel horrible for the crew on u boat 166. Need to do more research this u boat sunk 5 u.s ships during its life during the war killing in total of 32 American men. Just keep that in mind rest in peace to all that fought in the war on both sides.
There are millions of tons of planes, ships and other junk from WWII. It's a waste of time to get emotional about it, in my opinion. The United States and Britain had dozens of intact U Boats and Japanese submarines that surrendered after the war. The few that people wished to preserve could take their pick without dredging up wrecks that had been sunk for many decades If you want to visit a display, I recommend Pearl Harbor, where you can view where the Arizona Battleship blew up and next to it the Battleship Missouri, where the peace was signed in 1945. . Not to mention similar quantities of American and British ships and aircraft sunk.
For most of my life, especially during high school years, I had heard stories of a sunken U-boat off the coast of Florida but nobody really knew much about it until now. At least this one, unlike those sunk around Great Britain, will remain as a war grave and not be pilfered by vandals and thieves as most of those have been. It's a disgrace to that nation that so many feel no remorse at what they have done to those sunken grave sites.
Touching a war grave in the UK is a criminal offence and British people would be horrified at it, German or not. Unfortunately others have access to our waters and don't give a damn about it.
It’s a Type IX. The early ones (the As, Bs, and some of the early Cs like U-166) had a single-shot 37mm AA gun on the after deck. Later a platform was added here, and the 37mm was replaced with an automatic version, which is the more distinctive look of the Type IX
Under International law the boat is a war grave as is. This company is dangerously close to breaching that by diving on it. However they have kept their distance.
Du wirst dort nichts mehr finden was an einen Menschen erinnert. Die See hat alle Spuren gnädig beseitigt. Das ist auch gut so. Die Seeleute sollen in Frieden ruhen. Sie sind auf ewiger Patrouille.
Well preserved! What secrets are within...but.....its a war grave so we look sombrely but we don‘t touch. This killer machine sunk many unarmed merchant ships, American, Canadian and British. I think of those poor guys mostly, their wrecks are hardly visited 😔 Thats no criticism meant, your exploratory wirk is truly amazing👏....thats just me.🙂
Can you guys go around France and England and find Aircraft wrecks from Battle of Britain there are many English, German, American Aircraft there. Maybe you can find a complete JU-87
Im SwIft well we had a sense they were there; which is why costal blackouts were common along the east coast and gulf. Go to Bethany beach DW and you’ll see spotting towers up and down the beaches. They did the same on the island of Puerto Rico; as an early warning
The U-Boat still has all 52 of it's crewman onboard... very eerie
Evan McQueen I'd imagine that all of the remains would have floated away but I could be wrong but it is definitely a scary place down there
+Billy Rigney Sadly not you have to remember she's a closed wreck with the exception of where she broke in half.
the Remains can't float away if they can't get out.
Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu True, im not a boat expert and forgot to think that it was a submarine as ludicrous as that sounds! We all have them days haha. Very sad for the trapped souls down there though and it must have been one of the worst ways to go too
+Billy Rigney Yes, the terror of you actually drowning and watching your friends drown doesn't feel like a pleasent way to go.
+Evan McQueen To be honest without sounding too graphic I'd imagine a few of them would have suffocated being in water tight compartments.
This is amazing footage. U-166, an IX-C boat, wasn't even two years old when she was lost with all hands. A sister IX-C, U-505, can be seen in the Museum Of Science and Industry in Chicago. Only 54 were built. I have an old Polaroid photo (1954) with my father standing in the foreground as U-505 was being cradled across Lake Shore Drive.
now I know my bucket list is closer to Canada.
you meant 54 Type IX C (only)? there where about 184 Type IX?
Visited u 505 a few times tour is great
One of the Operation Drumbeat boats- the US was so badly unprepared for WW2 that there was no blackout on the coast and no antisubmarine patrols to speak of. For about two months German U-Boats ranged the US coast and the Caribbean at will- sinking ships within sight of people on shore. One U-Boat actually positioned itself between the merchant ship and the shore to avoid hitting civilians who were watching from the shore, before shelling the ship it intended to sink. Many of the ships sunk were vital tankers and it was a crisis point in the Battle of The Atlantic. Eventually, the USN got its act together, strengthened its defenses and the sinkings tailed off but not before a lot of men and ships were lost. According to records, the PC 566 did not sink it, it was sunk by aircraft on the 30th of July, 1942. From the hatches being closed we can safely assume that U-166 managed to dive before being depth bombed and sunk. A nasty way to die, I'm sure.
It is so sad, seeing the top hatch in the conning tower still securely dogged. All of these men went to their graves here.
and 32 civilian people went to their graves as victims of attacks by U-166.
Well, it's war for you
@@mikebritcom3171 Civilian might be a bit too broad of a statement, they were part of the merchant navy which had a tendency to arm their vessels so they could fight back, In my opinion any ships with guns on deck, no matter the crew, I consider legitimate targets during war operations. Remember that these men were fighting for their country and died doing so. The IX C types had a complement of 48 to 56.
What goes around comes around.
@@mikebritcom3171 The crews of these boats had no choice but to fight for their country, and follow orders. Anyone who disobeyed orders faced the firing squad.
Sad and Sobering. Split in two. A horrific and sudden death to her and her crew. Yet also, very interesting. She is astonishingly well preserved. The worst seems to be that the wooden decking has been eaten away. Very little growth or as much metal degradation as I would expect for something being exposed at the bottom as long as this boat has been. Lack of oxygen for the reason as to the state of preservation? Or something else?
it is surmised that as she was diving to avoid Allied ships a depth charge landed right on top of the area in the sub where torpedos were stored causing a chain reaction explosion and breaking the U-boat into 2 sections.
@@Birdbike719 Agree on the first, disagree on the 2nd, Look at the hull, its all caved in, certainly a direct hit with a depth charge, but a subsequent explosion from stored torps... unlikely. The sub was almost certainly carrying some variant of a G7 torpedo, most likely a G7e, which carried over quarter of a ton of a mixture of dipicrylamine and TNT as its warhead. The hull is showing no signs of being forced out from an internal explosion, which if those torpedo warheads had detonated, would have left strong evidence of the hull being blown out. Also the warheads were relatively safe until they got armed, and that was only when they got put in the tubes. It would need a direct hit on the warhead to set that off, and that's impossible when the torps are inside the sub. Its more likely the sub received a direct hit from at least one, if not more, depth charges, which caved the hull in, and most likely split in two when it hit the seabed due to a weakened structure form the depth charges.
I suppose it was better than burning to deat or being eaten..
The main reason..? It was Made in Germany !
@@roadsweeper1 The two pieces are more than 100 feet apart. There was definitely more than a depth charge that blew the two pieces of the boat that far apart. I believe they were possibly loading aft tunes one and two when they were struck with the fatal charges possibly or moving them from storage to aft tubes. She definitely took a very rare depth charge to the stern deck but I do believe from distance of wreckage she definitely had a internal explosion pushing the two pieces away from each other.
The U-166 must have made a very speedy decent. The retractable antenna is still extended and seeing it bent back like that tells me they made a crash dive and what ever damage they had took them to the bottom.
Please see my comment above. It appears that a depth charge exploded right at the boat and set off some of the boat's torpedoes as well as the depth charge explosion. It's pretty much blown in half. It went down FAST after that explosion.
Most of that is crush depth damage. Depth charges were not powerful enough to tear a boat in half. They would crack the pressure hull and cause massive flooding. When she reached crush depth, she would crumple like a tin can.
@@patrickmccrann991 true but as stated the shockwave set off the torpedos onboard. the type ll torpedoes of that time were reknown for being fragile
@@tramlink8544 possible but highly unlikely. Depth charges cause overpressure of the hull to create a breach, they don't explode like a bomb. Even one exploding in contact with the hull is unlikely to cause a sympathetic explosion of the torpedoes. More possible is a hot run in a tube that could have lead to an explosion of the warhead from overheating in the tube.
@@tramlink8544 The torpedo storage is forward. The break is over the diesel engine room. This points to severe depth charge damage and final breakup due to crush depth being exceeded.
Interesting side story....It was determined in 2014 that U-166 was actually sunk by US Navy PC 566, not the Coast Guard Widgeon seaplane as originally thought. Apparently the Captain of PC 566 was removed from command after the engagement with U-166 as the Navy thought he had botched the attack.
Rest in peace
at least they got it right at the end. Initial credit for the sinking of U-166 had been given to a Grumman G-44 Widgeon, but the position of the wreck made it clear that this should have gone to the submarine chaser PC-566.On 16 December 2014, the Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus posthumously awarded the captain of PC-566, then-LCDR Herbert G. Claudius, USNR (later CAPT USN), the Legion of Merit with a Combat "V" device for heroism in battle and credited him with the sinking of the U-boat. "Seventy years later, we now know that Capt. Claudius's report after the action was absolutely correct," he said. "PC-566 did sink that U-boat, and it's never too late to set the record straight." - Brian Clark Howard (19 December 2014). "72 Years Later, Snubbed Captain Credited With Downing German U-Boat". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018.
This is the best video and audio I have encountered so far in watching underwater exploration videos on TH-cam. Great definition. Well done.
Ich hatt' einen Kameraden, R.I.P
Das tut mir ein furchbar leid. Nicht.
@@davidh9844 wau was für Einstellung...
Wenn dann schon R. I. F.. 😏⚫⚪🔴🙋🏻♂️
@@davidh9844du bist als Mensch weniger wert als Müll.
Outstanding footage here, hard to believe it is so very clear...
40,000 men served in the u-boats less than 10,000 returned
95,000 men surrendered at Stalingrad, only 5,000 survived, better odds in the U-Boote!
Not necessarily a bad thing. Keep in mind, those vessels were built mostly with slave labor. Slave labor!
Good.
@Edoardo Quarta no this guy is a troll
Sie gaben ihr Leben für unser Land. 🙋🏻♂️🔴⚪⚫
40,000 men served on U Boats, over 30,000 never returned.
My those sailors Rest In Peace in their iron coffins. 😢
They are what submariners call as being on"eternal patrol"!
Numbers are skewed regarding German U-boats. There were over 1,600 U-boats built, each on average had a 50 man crew. If you do the math that's 80,000 men. Over 700 U-boats were sunk, most of those men didn't survive. So 30,000 Kia on a sub was a conservative number
I question your numbers. My uncle was a skipper on both a type 7 and type 9. He was sunk twice and by miracle of god lived. These wrecks are war graves to the kids who died in them. Respect them as such.
The U-Boat U166 is Type IX and the commander was Hans-Günther Kuhlmann.
They begin the journey the 17:th of June 1942 and sanked four ships of 7595 ton together.
U166 was sunk 1:st of August 1942.
The german U-boat crews was the most bravest men during WW2.
Actually, one of the craft sunk was a tiny coastal sailing boat that carried agricultural products (84 tons, from the Dominican Republic) and another was a small motor-driven fishing boat (American, based in Miami, only 10 tons). Both were sunk by gunfire. Only two ships were sunk by torpedoes, one was the Robert E. Lee.
Thanks for the history lesson buddy
Otto Von Stirlitz bullshit
Bravest men of world war 2 are all those whom gave there life for freedom
@@MackWTFreally which would be people in these metal deathtraps.
@O D GREEN Yep and the Americans shouldnt have been in japan killing, just like the Russians shouldnt have been in Germany killing. Can't forget the Japanese! In war everyone is the good guy and the bad guy, get over it
Had no idea this was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico! Dang. So close to the mainland. I just love your channel. Just found it accidently yesterday.
Nice clear high-resolution video. You can see the periscope at 1:46.
You must be really bored...
The thing off center is the boat's stand of its third sight. The U-Boot-Zieloptik
Your audio level is too low! How deep is this wreck?
6,650 feet. I didn't know the gulf of mexico went down that far personally 🥴
Stands testament to brave young men, even though they were the enemy it's still sad.
Hmm where would you hide if your country was at war.
Typical an anonymous backseat whinger. Top of the list of people to avoid during a crisis.
Or the subs,I suppose they need paper pushers, and the toilet rolls always need replacing, it's a shame you don't use your real name. never mind carry on the good work, oh and don't try to troll adults
Beppe my father was a WWII veteran as were almost all of his circle of friends and our relatives. I never met a WWII veteran - from the western European theater anyway - who wasn't willing to shake hands with a veteran from the other side of the war.
So if they buried the hatchet before they died, there's no reason for you to feel a need to carry on. Certainly don't suggest you're doing it in their memory, anyway.
Beppe Sapone Not all Germans are Nazis, if you lived an evil military junta you would definitely be conscripted, right?
When all the depth charges dropped around them, did you the only thing they thought about was the Nazi Idealogy?
Talking about human remains, those U-boats quite commonly have entire compartments still sealed and airtight if they're not too deep. When I was in the US Navy I had a few drinks with a retired deep sea diving dude, the guy's who breathe helium and dive to 1000' on a daily basis, insane. Anyhow, he said back in the 1960s they started finding all kinds of stuff in the Mediterranean, planes, ships, and submarines with better SSS. According to him, he and a crew torched a part of a U-boat from something like 200', which is kinda deep but you could do it with scuba. They haul it on board, it's the aft torpedo room, they open the hatch, he said it was like cold rotten meat, it stank but there they were, four sailors, still in uniform, slumped on the deck. He said they were well preserved enough if he were handed a photo of one of the four he'd recognize him.
Haul it onboard haul what WTF ? This dude sounds like he drank a case of mad dog and smoked some dinner as well rotting meat hahahahahahah
That is WILD. If its true. Did he take anything?
Never heard of that. I think if it were true, it would have been publicized more.
Great video footage, but its a shame the volume is far too low. I don't imagine it would be hard to fix that. I have my computer volume at 100 & I cant hear it.
As a German it´s really emotional..
As a Finnish person, an ally nation of WW 2 Germany, I hope we can promote world peace together now.
I´m a finn too.
As an American, having a Nazi submarine sunk in our backyard creates a different feeling. It is not lost that you and your allies wrote your comments on TH-cam in English.
As a German i'm really not emotional about that. I wonder what we could have learned and where we would be today if instead of in the war machinery we had put all that resources into peaceful sience.
As an american Skinhead How i long to raise this boat, restore it, fresh coat of Kriegsmarine gray, and vacation with it at PUT IN BAY. Wearing mt ben shermans in the sun atop the conning tower
in the sub's last few moments, the crew knew they were under attack, crash diving as fast as they could. standard emergency dive procedure was for all available sailors to run to the bow torpedo room, leaving all the bulk head doors open.
the first few depth charges were close and probably fractured the pressure hull, but not fatally so. the bang sounds inside the boat must have been terrifying. the one depth charge that landed on the front deck blew the the torpedoes up and that huge blast blew off the bow. those crew in the torpedo room were the lucky ones, dying instantly.
now with no lights, the boat diving an extreme angle and with a bad list, the survivors in the engine room would have had a few seconds to realize they were doomed. in the pitch black, water poured in through the open doors that facilitated the run to front of the boat.
and those few seconds lightly felt like a life time...no one will ever get me in a submarine.
Amazing how much sediment has covered it in 80 years.
Weird to think in another 80 it’ll be gone
1400 Meters.. That's a long way down for a resting place..
The ONLY place of peace.
My epic warship was sunk above the Mariana trench and it sunk to the bottom (sunk but Soviet u-boat)
The IJN Yamato also sank around the Mariana Trench I believe 😐 too bad, would've made a great test ship at Bikini.
@@craftpaint1644
Ist die Yamato nicht. Das Schiff liegt in ca. 300 m Wassertiefe zwischen den Südjapanischen Inseln.
Wow, some people have no sense of the value of life in celebrating death. Enemies or not, they were human beings, with mothers, fathers, siblings, and maybe children back home. War is a fool's errand, one that we as humans are yet to shed.....RIP former foes.
Read the book called Iron Coffins
Yes. Excellent book. Another is The U-Boat War by L. G. Buchheim.
I'm reading it now, thats what brought me here🙏
There's a great fiction story John Manock wrote based in part on the U-171 attack near Louisiana called "Iron Coffin."
Treat it respectfully, it’s a war grave.
For anyone who is about to comment “but it was Nazi’s, they deserve to die!” Not all Germans were Nazis, and most German soldiers were drafted into war regardless of political beliefs.
@@charliekill88 And most of the Kriegsmarine command felt the Nazi regime to be detestable.
Yes, they were our enemies at the time, but they were brave young men fighting for their country, however misled they were. I agree. Respect please. Real families lost real sons, real fathers, real brothers, real husbands.
@@jmfa57 most just kids. following orders.
@@charliekill88 It's true what you say but at the same time the German nation bought in to the master race, world domination ideology. Imagine the same type of ideology being implemented or cultivated in other nations....we'd only stop laughing in order to haul those pricks out of office and string them up by their gonads. They would get zero percent co-operation. The German army slaughtered everything as the retreated...men women children animals...EVERYTHING! Who in the name of Christ does that!!!!
If I am correct, the U-boat sunk a ocean liner and was then fired upon by escort frigates. As the sub descended, the Coast Guard launched it's depth charges, one of which landed directly on the aft torpedo section. You can imagine their surprise when the ordinance exploded directly over their heads. It took the whole bow with it.
Let's just agree that your version of events is exaggerated, but similar 😐 The SS Robert E Lee was a local passenger steamer, not a transoceanic liner.
@@craftpaint1644, it has also been recorded that this boat sank pleasure craft as well.... With complete sarcasm, those were some very brave nazis...... The n word does NOT deserve capitalization.....
Its quite interesting, I always thought German Uboats stayed in the Atlantic to prevent supplies from reaching the UK, but this Uboat was in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana. I imagine civilians in the US coastline in fear of using their boats due to a German uboat hunting in the area.
They were very active in the Gulf. But it was kept quiet by the war department, so as to not panic the people.
There are rumours they went ashore shopping! Could it be true?
They called it the 2nd happy time Admiral King decided convoys were a bad idea since it was a british idea... The u boats had a lot of fun in responce
@@pauledwards5573
Das Gerücht ist völliger Unsinn
I have dived the wreck of the M2 out from Lyme Regis on several occasions. She sits upright on the seabed at around 30 metres to the deck she went down with all hands apart from the aircraft pilot. After attempting to raise her failed she was sealed with the bodies inside. The wreck is to a fair degree still intact. The last time I dived it I noticed the bow planes were fully upward and found myself thinking was this the last desperate attempt to try to keep the sub on the surface. I chose not dive it again
My Great Uncle CPO John Jewell lies in M2, on his last leave he told his pregnant wife he had a very bad feeling about his upcoming tour for these M class subs had a bad reputation his widow never remarried and his daughter passed on in 2010.M1 lies furthur east in the Channel after colliding with a freighter as only one sea seal had been fitted to the hanger and 8" gun turret respectively.The French Sub Surcouff disappeared whilst escorting a convoy in 1942 and later one merchantman reported hitting something during the night but substained only minor damage her wreck has never been found. Is the hangar door lying partly open Larry?
Don't lie, you've never dove in your life.
I served on us Fleet boats Rock and Bream proud of it.
Amazing how the forward section is buried in the mud all the way up to the decking. Amazing detail.
Those that I fight, I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love.
RIP sailors
Lest we forget.
The clarity of the video is exceptional
I can't imagine the final moments of the crew r.i.p brave german sailors
All I thought about when i saw this. Must have been horrible. Everyone should see the german movie Das Boot or The Boat.
@Harold Albert Stfu they werent on their own will same with the dead sherman crews in europe respect the death
ThEy WeRe JuSt FoLlOwInG OrDeRS
C A people like you are why everybody hates Americans, so self centred and uneducated
I can imagine they knew they were going to die when their ears were wrecked by the loud sound of a direct hit breaking off the front of their killing machine 😐
Sound is poor. All my controls are at 110%, but can barely hear what is said.
Is the hull buried under the mud?
Yep.
R.I.P. U166 and crew.
My greatuncle served on the U-157. They were 52 crewmembers and they sunk on 13th of July 1942. He just turned 23 at that time. American ships and airplanes sunk them near Key West, Florida. They were never found
I’m very sorry your uncle died like this, and I hope Nautilus schedules a dive eventually, the subsequent results may give your family any necessary closure.. And we all get to see a very intricate piece of history. I’m also very surprised nobody has done a sonar scan yet of the site or sent an ROV down to check it out ( wreck lies approximately 700 meter deep water )
@@Leo55043 Yea same, I don't know why no one has ever found them.. There were 2 submarines in the gulf of Mexico that sunk (german ones) and one of them is the one in the video, the other one is the one in which my great-uncle died. Also, I noticed you said uncle xD, I'm 17 so it can't be my uncle. He was my grandmas brother
That Uboat was lost on June 13th, 1942.
@@MagMan4x4 how do you know that?
Awesome footage. R.I.P Guys.
Rest In Peace submariners!
There are litterally hundreds of u boat wrecks in rivers and off the coast of America. What they dont mention is most of them were scuttled which means the occupants reached their destination, met another ship and sank the u boat. Wonder why?
To avoid the capture of the U-Boat and all sensitive material on board. The capture a U-Boat was how the German Naval Codes were cracked.
Fantastic footage. Hope they release The whole dive and add some history and context to it too.
It's in damn good shape, considering 70+ years.
Excellent work. Beautiful footage.
Those poor men fought a senseless war. May they R.I.P. in their million year sleep. ⚓
What is that thing at about 1:58 to about 2:04 at the bottom of the screen that kinda looks like the eye from "Flight of The Navigator"?
My grandfather was the one who spotted the submarine!
+Pierre S my great grandfathers ship was hit twice by a torpedo
If he is alive please Thank him for his service. He and all the allied soldiers literally saved the world. Imagine if Germany and their allies won the war. It was the men of WWII that inspired me to serve my country during Desert Storm.
Every video on TH-cam has someone in the comments who says "i was friends with that person" or "my father worked there" or "my grandfather spotted the submarine"! Sorry but at this point if you dont have proof just move on and keep it to yourself.
Zoes Dada how are you going to post proof in the comment section?? And I don't know about you but I'm not going to post a video or something just to prove anything to you... Let people write what they want dude. So why don't you move on and keep it to yourself buddy
Wish we had photos of the crew,they deserve at least that.
That and those crewmen of the four ships it sunk before earning a depth charge on the bow 😐
Я никогда не видел такой ФАНТАСТИЧЕСКОЙ сохранности металла за столь длительное время нахождения в воде!!
Даже такая деталь как тоненькая сетка на воздухозаборах дизелей и та сохранилась, это просто не реальная сохранность!!
Жаль у лодки слишком сильные повреждения конструкции, её бы можно было бы достать...
Why does the video title says 1940, if in that year there were no sinkings of any vessels near the US coast ? Besides, the USA entered the war by the end of '41, and the U-166 was sunk in '42....
Can't hear what is being said. Audio turned up to max.
Thank You Nautilus. I recorded the whole expedition You guys did to this Sub. I must have well over 5 hours of it.
Be cool if You Guys did some Japanese War Wrecks in the Pacific..........
R.I.P.
Anyone know the exact coordinates of this ship? I want that 88mm deck gun for my living room.
Interstellar Lapis & the CCCP you wouldn't be allowed to have it anyway it's part of a war grave
Type IXC U-boat built by Seebeck Wesermunde.. Main deck gun was 105 mm. Also fitted a 37 mm and 20 mm AA gun. Sunk Aug. 1, 1942.
Thats a 5in deck gun.
Yes, you can see all three in the video, at different times. U-166 was a later Typ IX, the 88 mm (3.5 inch) gun was fitted to earlier boats but this one is a 105 (4 inch) gun.
It still looks super accurate.
Great footage
Looks like it's in pretty good condition.
What you can see is but a good third of the boat is shredded. Nope, not good condition.
How deep was this & how faraway is the Robert E Lee? Thanks for any replies.
4500 feet
Wonderful video. The three weapons shown are An 8.8cm deck gun forward of the conning tower. The angle gun atop the conning tower is 20mm Oerlikon and the one aft of the conning tower is a 40mm Bofors.
Actually, you are incorrect. The deck gun forward is a 105 mm, the aft gun is a 37mm, and the conning tower gun(s) are twin 20mm. This submarine was a Type IX-C and carried heavier guns than the Type VII because she was bigger and could support them.
Yesterday's enemy is tomorrow's friend. It is truly sad and unfortunate that our two great nations were ever in conflict. History is the fickle mistress of Mankind.
No. Not sad and unfortunate, Hitler had to be stopped.
Silent tomb. Sad, just young men and boys...
Rip
Hard for me to hear. Did you say where it lies? My Father-in-law said that the Germans were off the Florida coast in Miami,Fl
its off the coast of louisiana, a simple google search bud
Yes, near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Florida was a favorite place for U-boats during the offensive soon after the US joined the war. There were ships carrying oil and petroleum products from the Gulf and Caribbean areas like Venezuela and Aruba, there were freighters with bauxite ore, and ships with food from the tropics. All heading for East Coast ports or on to Britain in the trans-Atlantic convoys had to pass the east coast of Florida.
I think it was Ballard that found this sub. A Captain was relieved of his duty when he claimed to have sunk a U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Ballard proved he did sink a u-boat, the depth charge landed on the bow of the boat while it was diving and exploded when it reached the depth it was set at. The remaining Son of this Captain received his Fathers declaration and had his honour restored. Ballard saved a man's honour and corrected history. I can't remember the documentary on this sub, but as a Canadian, I remember when that son received his dad's honour restored I had tears in my eyes. My brother and I were talking a while back and we are glad that our Dad has passed away and hero's like this Captain and my Dad don't see what the Dem's and Liberals are doing to our countries today. Men and women like them fought for our freedom and these Liberals today should be ashamed for what they are doing to our countries. To the men on that U-boat, to men like the Captain and my Dad, rest in peace. My Dad has quite a story as well. He was wounded in Holland and honourably discharged and sent back to Canada. He healed and relisted and went back to finish the war. I wish they told the whole story in this clip.
THANK GOD SHES IN SUCH DERP WATER NO SCAVANGERS CAN GET TO HER. MY DAD WAS 4 YEARS USN N ATLANTIC AND NORMANDY. I MISS HIM ABOUT OUR TALKS. TO THE MEMORY OF U166 CREW FAIR WIND AND FOLLOWING SEA.
0:26 the gun's literally pointing at the sub
Submarine suicide is an issue that isn’t talked about enough.
Amazing german technology!
The capabilities of the type XXI for example were highly exaggerated as of the 109 that were built none sank a ship or really completely finished their sea trials after construction. Best anybody can say is that the Allies copied over some of the design except the propulsion system because it was crap 😐
Want amazing enough... the men were amazing though
Awesome footage!
Very poor audio.
These guys kept going to sea even when they knew most of their colleagues were not coming back. A sad end for young men.
Amazing cant see the damages from the depth charges it took before it sunk to the bottom
Great that you have both the footage of the Robert E Lee AND the sub that was believed to have sunk her.
Awesome!
Worst audio I think I've ever heard on TH-cam! Don't you guys edit your footage? Great otherwise.
For the people that say they feel horrible for the crew on u boat 166. Need to do more research this u boat sunk 5 u.s ships during its life during the war killing in total of 32 American men. Just keep that in mind rest in peace to all that fought in the war on both sides.
They were following orders and war is war at the end war is good young boys fighting good young boys because some old man have a disagreement
It's to bad this u boat could not be raised and out on display. An amazing piece of history. And all hands being repatriated back to germany
There are millions of tons of planes, ships and other junk from WWII. It's a waste of time to get emotional about it, in my opinion.
The United States and Britain had dozens of intact U Boats and Japanese submarines that surrendered after the war. The few that people wished to preserve could take their pick without dredging up wrecks that had been sunk for many decades
If you want to visit a display, I recommend Pearl Harbor, where you can view where the Arizona Battleship blew up and next to it the Battleship Missouri, where the peace was signed in 1945.
.
Not to mention similar quantities of American and British ships and aircraft sunk.
wow ! incredible pics of this u boat, the scale is very good with such wide angle, and clear water,
Is that Robert Ballard talking in there? I may have not been paying attention, but sure does sound like him.
Is this considered a war grave or would it be possible to raise on of the deck guns?
War grave. 52 men entombed.
The history and what happened to U-166 in the Gulf of Mexico is at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-166_(1941)
Well worth reading! Thank you.
Close to whos home? Considering U-166 had its home base in France I'd say its pretty far from home
Wow😮 das Boot sieht noch sehr gut erhalten aus.
For most of my life, especially during high school years, I had heard stories of a sunken U-boat off the coast of Florida but nobody really knew much about it until now. At least this one, unlike those sunk around Great Britain, will remain as a war grave and not be pilfered by vandals and thieves as most of those have been. It's a disgrace to that nation that so many feel no remorse at what they have done to those sunken grave sites.
Touching a war grave in the UK is a criminal offence and British people would be horrified at it, German or not. Unfortunately others have access to our waters and don't give a damn about it.
What variant of the Type VII has a second deck gun like this one?
This was a type IX-C not a VII.
It’s a Type IX. The early ones (the As, Bs, and some of the early Cs like U-166) had a single-shot 37mm AA gun on the after deck. Later a platform was added here, and the 37mm was replaced with an automatic version, which is the more distinctive look of the Type IX
How deep is it? Short video. Are there any more links?
Although the audio is rather poor it is mentioned in the footage : 1400 meters
It would be nice if you would publish the depth.
Although the audio is rather poor it is mentioned in the footage : 1400 meters
They sent plenty of Mariners to their graves!
as is usual in war mate.
How deep is the wreck?
Why is there very little marine growth on it? One of the guns just has some silt on it. How deep is it?
at 3.50 she says 1400 meters thats 4600 feet
Why not tell us the depth? And a little history of the u166........
Is it legal for Germany to withdraw any possible remains then bury them in Germany?
kinda, their family members have to allow it but you cannot identify them so.. no
Germany considers a sunken German boat a war grave where it is. They do not retrieve remains or allow anyone else to do so.
Under International law the boat is a war grave as is. This company is dangerously close to breaching that by diving on it. However they have kept their distance.
It has been down there for 77 years. There are no "remains" on board any longer to be buried. And just as well.
Du wirst dort nichts mehr finden was an einen Menschen erinnert.
Die See hat alle Spuren gnädig beseitigt.
Das ist auch gut so. Die Seeleute sollen in Frieden ruhen. Sie sind auf ewiger Patrouille.
As an ex ROV Pilot/Engineer that is excellent footage.
Well preserved! What secrets are within...but.....its a war grave so we look sombrely but we don‘t touch. This killer machine sunk many unarmed merchant ships, American, Canadian and British. I think of those poor guys mostly, their wrecks are hardly visited 😔 Thats no criticism meant, your exploratory wirk is truly amazing👏....thats just me.🙂
In 1942 those merchant ships were definitely not unarmed.
Where in the golf can you give the Coordinates?
28.40N, 88.30W, Some 45 miles south of the mouth of Mississippi River
Good quick way to go!! Why is the aft gun facing forward ??
that's the way they put them to go under way
Probably its the standard position its facing and can rotate if its controlled but if its not in use it locks back into standard position
Weirdness!?!?! Thanks for the info!!
Thanks for the info...I appreciate it !
You can also see the 20mm AA gun. It's in an area surrounded by a metal railing, The 20mm is much smaller than the 37mm.
Can you guys go around France and England and find Aircraft wrecks from Battle of Britain there are many English, German, American Aircraft there. Maybe you can find a complete JU-87
Do they know it's u boat number, and so it's history, and how it was sunk?
Just shows how close they were to us and we didn’t even know it
Off the coast of Louisiana!
Im SwIft well we had a sense they were there; which is why costal blackouts were common along the east coast and gulf. Go to Bethany beach DW and you’ll see spotting towers up and down the beaches. They did the same on the island of Puerto Rico; as an early warning
How deep does it rest?
Approx 1400 meters.
6,650 feet
very well preserved I think, a shame that a good portion of it is in the mud
How deep is the water?
What a beautiful machine
Wow the clear water you could almost back up see the whole thing cant believe. Its off coast