Posted on 04/02/2010 8:03:15 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The Norwegian Government has announced that the wreck of the WW2 German submarine U-864, which contains 65 tons of mercury, is to be raised, and that the contaminated seabed be covered with clean sand. The submarine, which lies off the Norwegian west coast near Fedje, north of Bergen, has long been considered an environmental hazard by environmental groups and local people.
However, experts have disagreed on whether or not the wreck should be raised or if it would be better to build a sarcophagus which would isolate the mercury from the marine environment, thereby eliminating the pollution hazard.
Head of the Norwegian Marine Safety Directorate, Magne Roedland says the wreck should be raised.
He believes that the strong currents around the wreck will undermine the sarcophagus, resulting in leaks of mercury. The local population agree and have said the wreck must be removed.
This week, Fisheries and Coastal Minister Helga Pedersen announced that she had decided that the wreck will be raised. 'I have given highest consideration to the insecurity felt by the local population, as well as the concern by the fisheries industry over possible contamination of the waters, if the wreck would just be entombed,' she said..
(Excerpt) Read more at fishupdate.com ...
This was the first submarine to be sunk by another submarine (British). There was a special on this and I believe it was the History Channel.
Isn’t this U-boat a war grave? Have the Germans signed off on raising her?
The ship(U-234) was surrendered to the Americans and the crew put in POW camps for several years. There are rumors that the Uranium Oxide was used in the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
I really do not know, but they need to do something about the contents in the ship. The best way is to bury it.
A couple of IX-Ds had their torpedoes and tubes removed, and they could carry about 252 tons of freight. So the load given for this one seems well within capacity, even with armaments in place.
Where does mercury come from, some other planet?
I believe that happened in WWI not WWII. And it was a Brit submarine that was sunk by a German.
In this case it was two submerged subs that engaged each other that resulted in one sinking.
If they don’t raise it, they can’t allow it to break apart and contaminate the lake.
Don’t you get it? That’s what this idiot is praying will happen.
Actually, no, I didn’t get that. (I presume you are talking about a poster?)
If so, I didn’t see it that way, I saw it more as cynical irony. It kind of reminded me of the apocryphal story about the seal caught in the oil spill up in Alaska, where they cleaned it up and rehabbed it, then after months of everyone bonding with the creature, naming it and everything, they release it in front of the new cameras, and it is immediately eaten by an orca.
My first thought is that it was related to the German nuclear weapons program in WWII. But Wikipedia says...
“According to decrypted intercepts of German naval communications with Japan, U-864’s mission was to transport military equipment to Japan destined for the Japanese military industry, including approximately 67 tons of metallic mercury in 1,857 32 kg steel flasks stored in her keel. That the mercury was contained in steel canisters was confirmed when one of the canisters containing mercury was located and brought to the surface during surveys on her wreck in 2005. Approximately 1,500 tons of mercury was purchased by the Japanese from Italy between 1942 and Italy’s surrender in September 1943. This had the highest priority for submarine shipment to Japan and was used in the manufacture of explosives, especially primers.”
“There was some speculation as to whether U-864 was carrying uranium oxide, as was U-234, which was captured by the US Navy in the Atlantic on 15 May 1945, but Det Norske Veritas (DNV) concluded that there was no evidence that uranium oxide was on board U-864 when she departed Bergen. During the Norwegian Coastal Administration’s investigation of the wreck of U-864 in 2005, radiation measurements were made but no traces of uranium oxide were found.”
“Das Boot” is probably the best movie based on a submarine.
Excellent
No, I’m talking about the Norwegian guy in charge who decided to raise it instead of entombing it. Guy’s an idiot. Idiocy of that magnitude if he’s an otherwise sane person is deliberate.
Post #36, second picture, HMS Venturer.
Just for reference, the mercury itself is worth around $1 million.
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