{"id":58304,"date":"2025-01-07T23:41:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T22:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=58304"},"modified":"2026-01-07T12:06:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T11:06:52","slug":"the-defenses-of-point-judith-and-the-last-naval-battle-of-a-german-submarine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2025\/01\/07\/the-defenses-of-point-judith-and-the-last-naval-battle-of-a-german-submarine\/","title":{"rendered":"The defenses of Point Judith and the last naval battle of a German submarine"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 5 May 1945, Admiral Karl D\u00f6nitz, Hitler's successor at the head of the Third Reich, ordered his submarines to cease operations.<\/p>\n

The wreck of the U-85, a German submarine sunk near the USA with spies on board<\/a><\/rel>
\nThe U-505, a German submarine exhibited in the US and that starred in a secret story<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

Although most of the German U-boat fleet obeyed that order, some captains continued to operate<\/strong>, perhaps because they did not receive that order or because they chose to ignore it. One such captain was Helmut Fr\u00f6msdorf, in charge of the U-boat U-853, a type IXC\/40, launched on 11 March 1943 and commissioned on 25 June of that year. It is believed that the U-853 may have had a damaged radio<\/strong>, which is why it never received D\u00f6nitz\u2019s order.<\/p>\n

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The American coal ship \"Black Point\", sunk by U-853 on May 6, 1945 (Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command<\/a>).<\/div>\n

On May 6, 1945, two days before the signing of the German surrender, the U-853 sank the American coal ship \"Black Point\"<\/strong> 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<\/strong> to hunt down the German submarine, beginning a battle known as the Battle of Point Judith<\/strong>. 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.<\/strong> A few hours later, the remains of the submarine were located at a depth of 40 meters.<\/p>\n

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The US Navy frigate USS Moberly (PF-63), manned by Coast Guard personnel, drops depth charges on the U-853 during the Battle of Point Judith on 6 May 1945 (Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command<\/a>).<\/div>\n

The Battle of Point Judith was the last naval engagement involving a German submarine,<\/strong> 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,<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

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The wreck of the German submarine U-853 in an image taken with Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) in 2018 (Photo: Kraken Robotics \/ NOAA Ocean Exploration<\/a>).<\/div>\n

In 2020, Jason Allard<\/a> posted an interesting video showing Point Judith's coastal defenses<\/strong> (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:<\/strong><\/p>\n