The Port Nicholson

Sub Sea Research LLC, a Portland Maine based company located the worlds richest shipwreck, a WWII British Freighter carrying a secret cargo of 71 tons of Platinum sunk by a German U-Boat off the coast of Cape Cod.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) January 27, 2012

Sub Sea Research (SSR) spent months searching for the elusive ship, the Port Nicholson, torpedoed by German U-boat U87, June 1942. It took two torpedoes and about 7 hours to sink her. U-87 also fired at the troop ship the “Cherokee,” quickly sinking her with a heavy loss of lives.

The Port Nicholson is a steel-hulled, 481 ft. merchant ship, coal fired freighter built in 1918 at the Tynes & Wear shipyard. She was carrying two special envoy USSR agents overseeing the delivery of a very important Lend-Lease payment from the USSR to USA. She along with 4 other commercial vessels were being escorted ...

For those who like submarine tales, this is a classic ... a bit dated by modern standards, but rip-roaring good entertainment. Those who were in the Silent Service in WWII [I was not] had a greater casualty rate than any other; this film should be dedicated to those who went to sea in boats, not ships.

USS Torsk (SS-423)

Commissioned on 16 December 1944, USS Torsk was one of only ten Tench Class fleet type submarines to see service in World War II. Deployed to the Pacific in 1945, Torsk made two war patrols off Japan sinking one cargo vessel, and two coastal defense frigates. The latter of these, torpedoed on 14 August 1945, was the last enemy ship sunk by the U.S. Navy in World War II.

Japan owed its desperate state in 1945 chiefly to U.S. submariners. Few expected such success, given the service’s depressing record of failure against Japanese ships in 1942. There were many reasons for this poor start. As part of its obsession with big ships, the Navy had neglected submarines, so the force consisted mostly of small, obsolete boats, including many with defective engines.

Worse still, the Navy’s Mark XIV torpedo, which had never been tested ...

During the period between the two world wars, the world’s major navies constructed small series of submarines that served the dual purpose of meeting immediate operational needs and providing data for the development of improved vessels. By the mid-1930s, most of these navies had evolved one or two basic types that were well matched to their operational requirements, had attained substantial design maturity, and were suited to large-scale series production. The vast majority of submarines that served during World War II, rather than having radical new designs, were of standardized types that had been modified in the light of operational experience.

These standardized submarine types shared many common features. Functionally, they were submersibles rather than true submarines; their designs were optimized for operation on the surface, and they had only limited capabilities while submerged. Underwater, they relied on electric motors powered by large storage batteries for propulsion; on the ...

In contrast to the Germans—and to the Americans— the Japanese adhered to an inflexible submarine warfare doctrine that targeted warships rather than merchant vessels. This limited their effectiveness. Japanese submarines ranged widely in size, from very large vessels to medium vessels, to small craft—and even midget submarines.

I-15 Class. These boats were typical of the large oceangoing Japanese submarines. They displaced 2,590 tons surfaced and 3,655 tons submerged. They were 356 feet long, with a 30.5-inch beam and a draft of 16 feet 9 inches. Diesels made 12,400 bhp on the surface, and electric motors delivered 2,000 hp submerged. Surfaced, the boats moved swiftly at 23.5 knots, but were fairly slow underwater at eight knots maximum. They were capable of a range of 16,155 miles. The I-15 boats were armed with a single 5.5-inch gun, two 25-mm AA guns, and ...

Top: Handy-sized Mediterranean boats, then-strong 'Adua' class were named after places in Italian North Africa. Boats of the class were modified to SLC carriers.

Bottom: A more powerful 'Adua 7 'Perla ' with reduced tower, Acciaio was lead boa t of a class of 13. She was sunk by HM Submarine Unruly on 13 July 1943.

Dating from a period of great expansion for the Italian navy's submarine arm, the 12 'Sirena' class submarines were known also as the '600' class boats. This figure was indicative of their standard surface displacement and, though the final design exceeded it by a considerable margin, they proved very handy boats for the constricted conditions of the Mediterranean. Their detail design was greatly influenced by that of the preceding 'Argonauta' class, but, as they were laid down before the latter's entry into service, they did not benefit from working experience. Simple and robust ...

Romolo 1943

Romolo (21 March 1943), Remo (28 March 1943), R-3 (7 September 1946), R-4 (30 September 1946)

Builder: Tosi R-7 (21 October 1943), R-8 (28 December 1943), R-9 (27 February 1944)

Builder: Monfalcone R-10 (12 July 1944), R-11 (6 August 1944), R-12 (29 September 1944)

Builder: Muggiano

Displacement: 2155 tons (surfaced), 2560 tons (submerged)

Dimensions: 2839100 x 25990 x 17960

Machinery: 2 Tosi diesel engines, 2 Marelli electric motors, 2 shafts. 2600 bhp/900 shp = 14/6.5 knots

Range: 12,000 nm at 9 knots surfaced, 90 nm at 4 knots submerged

Armament: 2 x 450mm torpedo tubes (bow), 3 x 20mm AA guns

Complement: 63

Cavallini designed these large single hull submarines with saddle ballast tanks as transports to carry high-priority cargoes, especially rubber, from the Far East. They could carry 600 tons of cargo. Two additional hulls (the R- 5 and R - 6) were never launched ...

The British submarine HMS Olympus (N-35) in Grand Harbour, Malta, in December 1941. Imperial War Museum Collections

A Key Largo-based not-for-profit ocean foundation has uncovered a British World War II submarine that sank 70 years ago in the Mediterranean Sea.

By Cammy Clark

The Key Largo-based Aurora Trust, a not-for-profit ocean exploration and education foundation, has solved a World War II British mystery.

On May 8, 1942, under the cover of darkness, the British submarine HMS Olympus (N35) was attempting to leave the British Naval Base in the Grand Harbor of Malta, a tiny island nation just south of Sicily and north of Tripoli that was blockaded by the Germans and Italians.

But the Olympus didn’t get far before striking a mine and sinking.

For nearly 70 years, nobody knew exactly where the 283-foot ...

Photo: Better times: The Yekaterinburg submarine and crew in 2006. (Reuters: Lev Fedoseev)

Russia says it has doused a raging blaze aboard a nuclear submarine after nearly a full day and night, by partially submerging the vessel after battling the flames with water from helicopters and tug boats.

Officials said there was no radiation leak and crew inside the submarine were monitoring the stricken vessel's nuclear reactors, which had been shut down.

At least nine people were injured fighting the flames which witnesses quoted by local media said rose 10 metres above the Yekaterinburg submarine at the navy ship yard in the Murmansk region of northern Russia.

"The fire on the submarine has been totally extinguished," Emergencies minister Sergei Shoigu told officials leading the firefighting effort, more than 20 hours after the blaze began.

His remarks were reported by Interfax news agency.

After hours of fighting the fire emergency ...