WWII Wrecks Found 30 Miles off US Coast

The wreck of a World War Two German U-boat and a freighter that sank 72 years ago have been discovered off the North Carolina coast by U.S. researchers, officials said.

The submarine, the U-576, and the Nicaraguan-flagged freighter Bluefields were found about 30 miles (48 km) off Cape Hatteras in an area known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic for its number of wrecks, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Tuesday.

The discovery underscores how close the battle for the Atlantic Ocean came to U.S. shores and is a rare view into the underwater battlefield landscape of World War Two, researchers said.

"These two ships rest only a few hundred yards apart and together help us interpret and share their forgotten stories," said Joe Hoyt, a NOAA sanctuary scientist and chief scientist for the expedition.

On July 15, 1942, Convoy KS-520, a group of 19 merchant ships escorted by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, was sailing to Key West, Florida, from Norfolk, Virginia, to deliver war cargo when the U-576 attacked it.

The U-boat was skippered by Hans-Dieter Heinicke, who had had no kills on his first two patrols and only marginal success on his next two, NOAA said.

Although U-576 had suffered serious damage to its main ballast tank during the patrol, Heinicke decided to attack the convoy. After a Coast Guard cutter dropped depth charges, the submarine fired four torpedoes into the convoy, striking the Bluefields and severely damaging two other vessels.

The U-576 surfaced in the middle of the convoy. It was struck by gunfire from an armed merchant ship and straddled by depth charges dropped by escort aircraft.

Bluefields and U-576 went down within minutes and rest on the seabed less than 240 yards (meters) apart. All 45 men aboard the submarine died and the Allied side had four casualties.

The discovery followed a 2008 partnership between NOAA and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to survey vessels lost during the war off North Carolina. A NOAA research vessel located the vessels in August and confirmed their identities.

The wrecks are protected under international law. The underwater site is considered a war grave for the submarine's crew.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Bill Trott)