Offshore Wrecks

[Pangaroo]

The USS Turner Sank in January 1944. The ship was preparing to unload it's munitions and bring it ashore . The crew wasn't properly trained to disarm the munitions and they blew up and killed about 125 men . The Turner was anchored at the Mouth of Gravesend Bay at the Tin Can Grounds. The Coast Guard used a Helicopter for the first time to rescue survivors. The Explosion was heard all over NYC, my father was 10 years old at the time and heard it inside his Bay Ridge Brooklyn Home. The Turner had to anchor outside NY Harbor ( where they were anchored was protected by a Submarine Net so it wasn't sunk by a U Boat) because it was so crowded in the harbor. At Peak during WW 2 , there were 600 ships inside the harbor. You drive over the Verrazano Bridge today you see a few ships here and there. 600 Ships !

 

[Snapprhead27]

You guys bring up some really interesting and cool facts. Keep them coming!!

 

[captmike28]

Agreed, much credit goes to those guys, and some others. Credit also should go to the the various dive clubs that have been able to identify these wrecks. And continue to this day to work on the identities.

Most of the information I have written about is all public knowledge. Some I know from personal experience, some from friends, some from legend, and some from the very large collection of information available online, and in books. One such book I would recommend for winter reading is “Wreck Valley III” by Captain Dan Berg.

A lifelong friend of mine is a hard-core recreational wreck diver and has been diving with and worked as a mate for both Dan Berg and another famous dive Captain, Steve Belinda of the Wahoo.

At my friend's son's wedding I was fortunate enough to be seated at the same table as these 2 well known dive experts. Very interesting conversations!

 

[Pangaroo]

You guys bring up some really interesting and cool facts. Keep them coming!!

The things I learned about WW2 off the US East Coast would shock you. German U boat 607 or 606 sailed right up to entrance of NY harbor and laid 10 mines where Ambrose Tower use to be. A year after we declared war on Germany ! Another U boat was sent by the German High Command ( The Kreigsmarine directed U Boats, not the German High Command ) , in March 1945 with orders to shoot canisters of nerve gas into the streets of Manhattan to avenge the bombing of Dresden. Looks like the crew didn't wanna follow that order and there was a Mutiny. The U Boat didn't surrender at the end of the War and disappeared for 4 months. 4 months later that Uboat( I think 970) surfaced off Argentinia with it's deck gun missing and the hull looked like it was set on fire to destroy evidence of chemical weapons.
And the August 1864 Confederate Navy Raid off Fire Island - See the Fire Island National Park Service Website about the August 1864 raid.
Give me a couple of days and I'll fill you in on what really happened out on Amagansett Beach in June 1942 when 4 Spies landed on the beach . I've researched that landing the last 42 years, ever since I purchased my first Loran C in 1983 and became interested in shipwrecks.

 

[Avenger]

We had a family friend, who is naturally no longer with us, that was a torpedo mechanic on a U-Boat. He had some interesting stories, including having the chance to view the Statue of Liberty through a periscope.

Interesting times.

BTW, read Shadow Divers if you get a chance.

 

[MakoMatt]

I purchased all 3 of Dan Bergs Wreck Valley Books and the craziest thing happened years later - My brother was having health issues and a visiting nurse came to check him once a week , the visiting nurse was Dan Berg!!!!! He came in and checked on my brother and after the checkup my brother and father started talking about fishing /boating because we had 2 sharks and other fish mounted in the living room. I didn't meet him, I assumed it was somebody I didn't know and walked away ( without ever seeing Berg) before they started talking about fishing/boating. And before that meeting I mailed Dan a picture of the SS Coimbra sinking in January 1942. I also purchased some of his Wreck Valley Videos. I wish I met him that day , loved his books and videos.
Bet you didn't know that they flew Anti Submarine Patrols from Mitchell Field during 1942. Nassau Community College is there now.

Somewhere I have an old Wreck Valley DVD. I never knew about the anti submarine patrols from Mitchell Field that’s pretty cool.

 

[MakoMatt]

The things I learned about WW2 off the US East Coast would shock you. German U boat 607 or 606 sailed right up to entrance of NY harbor and laid 10 mines where Ambrose Tower use to be. A year after we declared war on Germany ! Another U boat was sent by the German High Command ( The Kreigsmarine directed U Boats, not the German High Command ) , in March 1945 with orders to shoot canisters of nerve gas into the streets of Manhattan to avenge the bombing of Dresden. Looks like the crew didn't wanna follow that order and there was a Mutiny. The U Boat didn't surrender at the end of the War and disappeared for 4 months. 4 months later that Uboat( I think 970) surfaced off Argentinia with it's deck gun missing and the hull looked like it was set on fire to destroy evidence of chemical weapons.
And the August 1864 Confederate Navy Raid off Fire Island - See the Fire Island National Park Service Website about the August 1864 raid.
Give me a couple of days and I'll fill you in on what really happened out on Amagansett Beach in June 1942 when 4 Spies landed on the beach . I've researched that landing the last 42 years, ever since I purchased my first Loran C in 1983 and became interested in shipwrecks.

That’s some great information!!

 

[MakoMatt]

We had a family friend, who is naturally no longer with us, that was a torpedo mechanic on a U-Boat. He had some interesting stories, including having the chance to view the Statue of Liberty through a periscope.

Interesting times.

BTW, read Shadow Divers if you get a chance.

Will do, thanks.

 

[MakoMatt]

Will do, thanks.

Just ordered the book from Amazon

 

[Pangaroo]

We had a family friend, who is naturally no longer with us, that was a torpedo mechanic on a U-Boat. He had some interesting stories, including having the chance to view the Statue of Liberty through a periscope.

Interesting times.

BTW, read Shadow Divers if you get a chance.

I have that book about U869 and also the book about U550. U550 sank a little inshore of the Andrea Doria , after they sank U550 they found bodies of dead U Boat Sailors floating 25-35 miles SE of Shinnecock. Yeah U boats sailed right up to NY Harbor and off Long Island and the US Navy didn't actively search for them because everybody knew it was suicide to attack shipping in shallow water. U853 made that mistake . Kreigsmarine regulations said a U Boat couldn't attack shipping in less than 240 feet of water. They sank ships off NY/Long Island to scare people and as soon as they made their presence known they quickly made their way down South and attacked shipping off North Carolina where they could escape into deep water.Until the last day of WW2 there were UBoats patrolling off Long Island and they mostly were here to keep tabs on the Convoys. The US Navy didn't have to actively search for U Boats because the UBoats kept making their presence known every time they sent a coded message. Right until the end of the war the Germans had no idea we had the ability to locate them every time they sent a message. When U202 came and dropped off spies on Amagansett Beach they sent a Coded Enigma Message about 30 miles South of Amagansett that US Naval Intelligence in NYC was able to triangulate and get their position.

 

[Pangaroo]

We had a family friend, who is naturally no longer with us, that was a torpedo mechanic on a U-Boat. He had some interesting stories, including having the chance to view the Statue of Liberty through a periscope.

Interesting times.

BTW, read Shadow Divers if you get a chance

We had a family friend, who is naturally no longer with us, that was a torpedo mechanic on a U-Boat. He had some interesting stories, including having the chance to view the Statue of Liberty through a periscope.

Interesting times.

BTW, read Shadow Divers if you get a chance.

So many Germans came to the US and Canada after the war. There was a WW2 German Pilot who flew an ME 109 . He got shot down by the Russians and he spent 5 years in a Russian Gulag and survived. He came to the US and settled in Patchogue where he raised his family. He wrote a book - Another Bowl of Kapusta - about his wartime experience and coming to the US and living here . He worked for the old Times Square Stores as a Home Improvement Estimator and worked out of a Store on Sunrise Highway in Merrick. I'm sure I crossed paths with that guy, maybe even came to my home and gave us an estimate. He dressed up in his German Uniform and appeared at Air Shows where crowds loved listening to his stories.