I moved to Jacksonville (JAX) in 1984 and sailed out of JAX on Container Ships for 6-years. I knew many of the pilots that took us in and out of the port throughout that time frame as well as a Chief Scientist that relayed the rumor that there was a German U-Boat sunk off the coast of JAX. I retired in 2007 from a Sea Going Career and am an instructor at a fairly well known maritime school. This year the subject of the U-Boat came back up by a diver friend of mine and I have been trying to track down, any corroborating information on the subject. Another topic that came up was about a sub sunk off Key West!
I have been through this site and the few others out there and have read a couple of books (“Ultra at Sea How Breaking the Nazi Code Affected Allied Naval Strategy During WWII”, by John Winton) on WWII trying to get a feel of what Donitz’s plan was on the East Coast, but they are mainly on the Convoy system we were using to get supplies, food and troops to England. Of course most of the U-Boat action was along the NE portion of the US and not much mentioned about Florida.
Most of my information on the war along Florida such as the landing of 4-sabatures along Ponte Vedra area as well as the vessels that were sunk off Florida through has been getting with the Heritage Program Florida has in a pamphlet called “Florida World War II Heritage Trail” put out by the Florida Heritage Publication. Sadly there is no information pertains to any U-Boats being sunk off Florida. Even talking to a former Civil Air Patrol (CAP) airman came up with that fact that the CAP hasn’t been credited with any sinking’s, and that one of their Blimps was shot down by a surfaced U-Boat.
There are a few charts showing U-Boat wreckage along the Florida Coast going around Tortugas into the Gulf of Mexico, but there is NO mention of any U-Boat sinking’s other than a couple that were sunk after the war for target practice by the Navy. There is also some information that one U-Boat went around so far as to be off New Orleans. But there is NO mention about any U-Boat sunk off Key West after or during the war or north up off JAX.
Is there any one that has heard any rumors to the above, a book mentioning South Florida activities, and is there anyone alive since “The Shadow Divers” by Robert Kurson was written that is versed in U-Boat activity along Florida?
Some of the books I still have to go through are “The Kriegsmarine 1935 – 1945” by David Porter and “Fuehrer Conferences on Naval Affairs 1939 – 1945 by Mallman Showell and “Hitler’s U-Boat War The Hunters, 1939 – 1942. I know there is another book I haven’t obtained by Showell on the U-Boats that were sunk, but nothing more specific along the Florida Coast.
Well, thanks for listening to my ramble on about this. It’s something that interests me and is an enjoyment more than anything else. Best Regards, Robert Ethier