U-480 The rubber U boat

[cash_13]

I watched an very interesting program earlier today about U480.....it seems she sunk 4 ships in the space of very little time using acoustic homing torpedo's and also with an added revolutionary secret of being covered with rubber. As such U480 could not be detected by ASDIC and by all accounts she was invisible.

Anyway to cut a long story short she returned to her happy hunting ground in early 1945 and was sunk according to the program by a mine laid as part of a trap for subs.......this was confirmed by divers who went down to look at the wreck, but according to U-boat.net she was sunk by depth charges pasted below is the final report

U-480 was lost with all hands when she was sunk on 24 February, 1945 in the Channel south-west of Land's End, by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Duckworth and Rowley.

Lee

[Peter Clare]

A few details regarding 'rubber' U-boats.

Alberich

Alberich consisted of synthetic rubber sheets of about 4mm in thickness which had sound absorbing properties. The material was Oppanol which was secured to the outer hull with adhesives, much like an outer skin. Although no conclusive tests were performed, but it was claimed that the echo reflection of a U-boat with Alberich was reduced by about 15 percent. In addition, it also acted as a sound dampener, containing the U-boat’s own engine noise.
Although the principle was a sound one, problems were encountered with the adhesive coat which was not strong enough to adhere the rubber sheet to the hull. This resulted in the sheets being partially washed off, which flapped in the wake of the ocean current, causing hydrodynamic resistance and noise. Further research into more reliable adhesives were conducted, but up to the end of the war, only a few U-boats had received this treatment. A further contribution was that treating the hull was a time consuming and laborious task.
The first U-boat to receive Alberich was U-11, a Type II coastal boat for trials on its sound absorbing properties. On April 1940, the first operational U-boat was treated, U-67 a Type IXC which was just being laid down. Thereafter, problems with the adhesive prevented further treatments until late 1944, when U-480, a Type VII was tested again using a new adhesive. The results were satisfactory enough and it was decided that all new Type XXIIIs and XXVIs would receive this coating, but ultimately only one Type XXIII, U-4709 had been completed with the coating.


U 480 was indeed sunk by surface craft as follows.

HMS Duckworth (Comdr. R G. Mills) HMS Rowley (Lt. Comdr. F J G. Jones). south west of Lands End in position 4955N - 0608W. 48 crew lost

[cash_13]

Peter, have you seen the program.....it begs to differ the reason for U480's demise..

Regards Lee

[Peter Clare]

It would be interesting to see when the program was made.

After the war the historian Axel Niestle carried out a reassessment of all U-boat losses, which were sometimes startlingly wrong, using existing German and Allied records, this work was also supported by Naval Historical Branch. This joint effort resulted in the reassessment of nearly one-fifth of all front line U-boat losses during the war.

U 480 was, I believe was one of those to be reassessed and was sunk by the surface vessels previously stated.

Regards
Peter.

[James S]

Was Innes Mccarthy the lead diver on the team which looked at the Submarine ?
A number of boats have turned up in waters of the SE coast in recent years - they seem to have been victims of mine fields laid to catch them on the basis of Enigma decrypts.

I know from some of Innes's TV work that Axel Niestle works closely with him and they together identified some of the unknown boats which have been located in the Bristol Channel area.

Periscope Publishing Ltd Homepage

http://www.periscopepublishing.com/c...201%202004.pdf

[James S]

Another U-boat whcih was also coated with Alberich was "The Black Panther" - U-1105.
I have attached a photo of her from Lawrence Paterson's "Donitz's Last gamble-The Inshore U-Boat Campaign 1944-45". (Seaforth Publishing).

The account of the attack on HMS Redmill and her evasion of her hunters following the attack is worth reading.

Sunderlands from castle Archdale flew air cover over the scene following the attack , some of the death from Redmill are buried in the Commonwealth Plot in Londonderry / Derry.

[cash_13]

Peter, I believe it was filmed in 2008 but I will look for a repeat over the next few days as it was on the history channel and they tend to repeat them quite often The program was called DEEP WRECK MYSTERIES

James, thanks for the article very interesting....

Lee

[wightspirit]

The U480 was sunk in a position approximately 20 miles south (just west of south) of the Needles, Isle of Wight after being caught in a deep minefield laid by MTB's 724, 728 and 787. Some 96 mines were laid, lying roughly north/south, between 13 and 27 January 1945 during Operation Brazier. This minefield accounted for U480. The positions of the mines and the position of the wreck correspond. The uncharted wreck was located and identified by shell fishermen in the mid 1990's after they had snagged their gear.

Dave W

[Peter Clare]

Hello Dave,

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for the confirmation on the loss of U 480.

Regards
Reter

[Smudger Jnr]

[quote=James S;223925]Another U-boat whcih was also coated with Alberich was "The Black Panther" - U-1105.
I have attached a photo of her from Lawrence Paterson's "Donitz's Last gamble-The Inshore U-Boat Campaign 1944-45". (Seaforth Publishing).

The account of the attack on HMS Redmill and her evasion of her hunters following the attack is worth reading.

Sunderlands from castle Archdale flew air cover over the scene following the attack , some of the death from Redmill are buried in the Commonwealth Plot in Londonderry / Derry.

/quote]

James,

I seem to recall reading about that submarine too, from a book about the German U-Boat Coastal campaign by John White.

An interesting solution to provide an early form of stealth.

Regards
Tom