Posted on 01/24/2009 3:48:32 PM PST by PotatoHeadMick
Undersea explorers claim to have found the world's richest wreck – a British ship sunk by a Nazi submarine while laden with more than £2.6 billion in gold, platinum and diamonds.
In a project shrouded in secrecy, work is due to start on recovering the cargo, which was being transported to the United States to help pay for the Allied effort in the Second World War.
The scale of the treasure trove is likely to unleash a series of competing claims from interested parties. Salvage laws are notoriously complex and experts say there could be many years of legal wrangling ahead.
In order to protect its find until the cargo is brought to the surface, the company that located the wreck has not released the name of the vessel or its exact location, but has given the ship the code name "Blue Baron".
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
holy crickey!
So did we get paid? There are alot of illegals needing healthcare and subusidized housing.
“The merchant ship left a European port and first sailed to a port in South America, where it unloaded some general cargo, before continuing north in a convoy, heading for New York. It was intercepted by German U-boat U87 and sent to the bottom by two torpedoes in June 1942. Sub Sea Research, a US-based marine research and recovery firm, claims it has now located the wreck under 800ft of water in the Caribbean Sea, around 40 miles from the South American mainland.”
Maybe the ship had one heck-of-a catalytic converter?
Perhaps a search of German reports by U87 might give latitudes and longitudes. Same with U.S. convoy casualty reports of June 1942.
War patrols of U-87:
http://www.uboat.net/boats/patrols/u87.html
Click “view” for a map and information of each patrol.
U-87 is shown attacking two ships off New England during the time in question.
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Thanks robomatik. |
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I have serious doubts about this claim. I vaguely remember reading about some British gold deliveries to the US during the war and they were sent on warships, specifically cruisers IIRC. Why? Because a cruiser had the speed to reduce the U-boat threat to near zero on an Atlantic crossing. It just doesn’t seem feasible to me that the British government would load this extremely valuable cargo on a tramp steamer to begin with, let alone multiplying the time, distance and danger by routing it through Brazil first.
Yes - a couple of years ago the UK repaid the last remaining long-term war debt to the USA - I believe the only country to have done so.
Very good points, it does seem incredible that such a valuable cargo would simply be put on any old freighter when as you point out there were cruisers and battleships not to mention the “Queen” ocean liners which could have left any U-boat bobbing in their wakes crossing the Atlantic every other week.
The only possible explanation would be the date: June of 1942. It could be that with Battle raging in the Med & the Torch Landings that the Brits had no available fast warships for the crossing. This may have been their 2nd option?
why would you go to south america for general cargo if you were carrying 2 billion in gold? that makes no sense.
I thought the Soviets ( Russians ) paid in full many years ago?
unless trying to make yourself look insignificant...
Thanks for the link! I watched this show last night. It was SOOOOO cool!
(Yes, I just showed my age :-)
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