Hi Simon,

One of the last boats to transfer a shipment of uranium from Germany to Japan was the Type XB U-234 (KL Fehler) which was alleged to have carried approximately 1,200 pounds of what has been described as 77.7% pure uranium-oxide, suggesting that it was not highly redioactive, weapons grade uranium. The lead ten lined canisters (not necessary for simple uranium-oxide) that supposedly carried this material was alleged to have been marked U235, which is indicative of enriched, highly radioactive uranium, and also weapons grade. Approximately 60 pounds of enriched U235 was at the heart of the gun-barrel type fission bomb "Little Boy" that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The U-234 was sunk in a torpedo test approximately 29 miles Northeast of Provincetown (Cape Cod), Massachusetts off the continental shelf in waters approximately 600 feet deep, on November 20, 1947. If she had actually been carrying enriched U235, her wreck might also be "hot." If her wreck were located and checked positive for radioactivity, it might prove that the Germans had a functional reactor, changing the historical record as we now know it. A recent History Channel documentary suggests that might be the case, but I see it as nearly impossible for the Germans to have enriched some 1,200 pounds of U235. It took the Manhattan project years simply to enrich enough such material for a hand full of atom bombs. Possibly, a close examination of some of those wrecks might shed some light on what they were actually carrying.

Sincerely,

Paul