A German Submarine Still Poses a Danger on the Norwegian Seabed

For decades, the wreck of U-864 has rested 150 metres below the sea near the Norwegian island of Fedje. Now, the submarine’s most dangerous cargo is beginning to leak.

The German submarine went down on Feb. 9, 1945, after a remarkable underwater battle with the British HMS Venturer. None of U-864’s 73 crew members survived. The wreck lies about 36 nautical miles, or 57 kilometres, from the German submarine base in Bergen.

British commander Jimmy Launders had been ordered to find and destroy the vessel. Allied codebreakers had deciphered German Enigma messages, and the messages linked to U-864 led them to believe it was carrying military equipment to Japan. The cargo included 67 tonnes of mercury stored in steel bottles in the submarine’s keel.

Near Fedje, the Venturer detected the German submarine’s engine noise. Launders and his crew calculated its depth and course before firing four torpedoes, two followed by two more 17.5 seconds later. The first three missed. The German crew tried to shut down its diesel engines, start its electric motors and dive away, but the submarine turned unknowingly into the path of the fourth torpedo. The blast split U-864 in two.

The wreck was discovered in February 2003, 58 years after the sinking. Subsequent measurements showed that the mercury containers had started to leak, turning the wartime wreck into an ongoing environmental concern off Norway’s coast.