On May 6, 1945, two days before the signing of the German surrender, the U-853 sank the American coal ship "Black Point" as it sailed from New York to Boston. The sinking resulted in 12 deaths. The US Navy and Coast Guard quickly mobilized four destroyers, a frigate and two corvettes to hunt down the German submarine, beginning a battle known as the Battle of Point Judith. The American fleet went all out against the U-853, launching 95 depth charges and 264 Hedgehog anti-submarine weapons. They finally managed to sink it, killing all 55 crew members of the U-853. A few hours later, the remains of the submarine were located at a depth of 40 meters.

The Battle of Point Judith was the last naval engagement involving a German submarine, and also the last sinking of an American ship by a German submarine in World War II. The last Third Reich submarine sunk by the Allies was the U-320, which sank to the bottom of the sea off the coast of Norway on 8 May 1945. However, this was not a naval engagement, as its opponent was a British PBY Catalina flying boat which dropped depth charges on it.

In 2020, Jason Allard posted an interesting video showing Point Judith's coastal defenses (the US Army had coastal artillery at Fort Greene, a now abandoned military base next to Point Judith), as well as its lighthouse, active since 1857 and automated since 1954, and telling the story of the U-853:

Finally, in 2018 DECO Café Scuba published this video of a dive to the wreck of the U-853:

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Main image: Jason Allard. The command post of the former Fort Greene coastal battery, at Point Judith (Rhode Island, EEUU).