Where Divers Dare
The Hunt for the Last U-Boat
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
In the tradition of Shadow Divers, this is the gripping true account of the search for German U-boat U-550, the last unfound, diveable wreck of a U-boat off the United States coast, and the battle in which it was sunk.
On April 16, 1944, the SS Pan Pennsylvania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-550 off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. In return the sub was driven to the surface with depth charges, and then sent to the bottom of the ocean by three destroyer escorts that were guarding the naval convoy. For more than sixty years the location of the U-boat’s wreck eluded divers.
In 2012, a team found it—the last undiscovered U-boat in dive-able waters off the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, more than three hundred feet below the surface.
This is the story of their twenty-year quest to find this "Holy Grail" of deep-sea diving and their tenacious efforts to dive on this treacherous wreck—and of the stunning clash at sea that sealed its doom and brought the Battle of the Atlantic to America’s doorstep.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this well-told tale of real adventure at sea, Peffer (Seahawk Burning), a novelist and travel writer, deftly combines WWII military history with an exciting account of a group of deep wreck divers searching for one of the most elusive and sought-after prizes: the sunken remains of the German submarine U-550, thought to be the last remaining undiscovered U-boat wreck reachable by divers. Peffer opens with the WWII battle between the U-boat and Allied ships that ends with the sinking of U-550, and the rescue of a small number of the German crew. Decades later, in July 2012, after years of research, a group of expert deep wreck divers discovers the boat off the Massachusetts coast. Over a period of months, they execute dangerous dives to 330 ft. below the surface to document their discovery. Through close examination of the wreck and interviews with the surviving participants of the battle, the divers determine that the official U.S. government account of the fight is inaccurate. Peffer conveys the tension, fear, and exhilaration of deep wreck diving in this uncomfortable true story of bravery, compassion, and death that characterized the violent last hours of U-550.
