The Discovery of U-166: Rewriting History with New Technology

摘要

During World War II, Hitler sent several of Germany’s Uboatsrnto the Gulf of Mexico to conduct warfare on merchantrnshipping and halt petroleum shipments. In less than a year,rnfifty-six merchant vessels were sunk and several others werernseverely damaged. During that entire operation only one Uboatrnwas lost in the Gulf of Mexico. That U-boat was the U-rn166. Since 1942 the U-166 was thought to have been sunk byrnthe U.S. Coast Guard south of Isle Dernieres, Louisiana in thernSouth Timbalier Area. Numerous surveys have crossed thernarea, but no trace of the U-166 was ever identifiedrnuntil recently.rnIn 2001, C & C Technologies, Inc. (C & C) began usingrnthe HUGIN 3000 AUV for offshore oil and gas surveys in thernGulf of Mexico. While conducting a pipeline survey for BPrnExploration and Production Inc. (BP) and Shell Internationalrn(Shell), C & C’s marine archaeologists identified a sonarrntarget in the vicinity of the shipwreck, Robert E. Lee, whichrnthey thought might be the long sought after German U-boat,rnU-166. The oil companies approved further investigation withrnthe HUGIN 3000, which revealed spectacular sonar andrnmultibeam bathymetry images lending further evidence to thernU-boat hypothesis. On May 31 a research team from C & C,rnthe Minerals Management Service, BP, and Shell conductedrnan ROV investigation of the site confirming the identity andrnlocation of U-166 and its last victim, the Robert E. Lee.