A team of technical divers from Canada have identified a lost D class u-boat, sunk in July 1942, and resting at 90m on the seabed 200km (125 miles) south of Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

U-215 was on her way to mine Boston harbour when Captain Fritz Hoeckner decided to deviate from his orders and attack USS Alexander McComb, which was carrying tanks and aircraft. The attack alerted nearby armed British trawler HMS Le Tigre, which at the time was on loan to the US Navy. U-215 was pursued and depth charged.

The reported position of the sinking put the wreck at 120 miles east of Cape Cod, but the actual position is roughly 300 miles east of Boston and 125 miles south of Nova Scotia, making U-215 the only u-boat to be found so far in Canadian territorial waters.

The team battled offshore conditions and strong currents to make a series of 90m dives over two days to video the sub. Once they had established that the sub was a D class - at length 77m, a longer version of the C class sub - the identification was complete as it could only be the U-215.

Only 6 Type VIID subs were ever built, with five destroyed at sea, and one sunk in Operation Deadlight:

U218 - sunk in Operation Deadlight
A documentary film about the search for U-215 is being made for Canadian TV.

Related pages
U-boat Net website
Information about Operation deadlight

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