On a cold November morning in 1944 a young inexperienced U-boat crew set out from their base in Horten Norway. As they waved to the small party gathered on the dockside, little would they know that this would be both their first and final patrol.
U297’s keel had been laid down on 27th January 1943 at the Bremmer Vulcan shipyard in Germany. She was commissioned into the 8th Flotilla based at Danzig on the 17th November 1943 and after 12 months of training and trials she was sent on her first patrol under the command of Oberleutnant Zur See Wolfgang Aldegarmann, an experienced sailor but first time U-boat commander, on the 27th November 1944.

The journey across the North Sea to Scotland had been uneventful and the crew had settled into their wartime routine, but on the morning of the 6th December 1944 all that was about to change. Approximately thirty-eight miles away the U775 torpedoed and sank the British destroyer HMS Bullen in an unconnected incident. The response was typical of how the U-boat war had been developing for the past two years. The attack subsequently caused a massive sustained search by three Royal Naval destroyers and a short Sunderland flying boat of 201 Squadron commanded by Flight Lieutenant Ralph Hatton R.A.F.V.R.

As the search grew ever wider the Sunderland spotted the tell tale wake of a U-boat snorkelling just below the surface. Presuming this was the U-boat that had sunk HMS Bullen the Sunderland lined herself up at a height of 50ft ready to drop a line of depth charges in the U-boat’s wake but they failed to release. Finding no mechanical problem a similar attack was made, this time the depth charges functioned and a straddle of six fell in a straight line along the U-boat’s wake sending the U-boat and her crew to the bottom.

However at this point the U775 was far away and evading her pursuers, the U-boat that had been spotted and sunk was the U297 who could have had no knowledge of the attack on HMS Bullen or she would never have been snorkelling in the area.

The crew of U297 were destined to lie within their iron coffin lost and forgotten forever but for two technical divers from Stromness, Kevin Heath and Ian Trumpess. Kevin had been researching a wreck for over a year and despite advice to the contrary believed it to be a U-boat. On the 4th March 2001 they headed out on Ian’s boat, the Radiant Queen. After arriving in the area it took just seven minutes to locate and shot the wreck. Ian kitted up and proceeded to descend down the shot and at 50m saw the distinct outline of a type VII U-boat lying at a 30 degree angle at a depth of 87m. Ian made 3 dives on the wreck taking extensive video footage for later analysis and identification then 15 minutes into his third dive disaster struck. Ian’s dry-suit zip burst open flooding his suit with five-degree seawater. He managed to complete his deep stops electing to do them on as higher mix as he dare pushing his PPO2 up as far as 2.5bar until hypothermia took over and he had to surface. Back on the boat having missed over an hour of stops it wasn’t long before debilitating DCS kicked in. The Coastguard in Kirkwall were immediately informed and the Stromness lifeboat and coastguard helicopter Oscar Charlie were scrambled and Ian was air lifted to Aberdeen hyperbaric chamber where he completed three days of Comex 30 saturation therapy and eventuly made a full recovery.


It wasn’t long before the papers got to hear about the discovery and within several weeks Kevin had received a letter from the wife of the U297’s commander. In the letter she had placed a beautiful gold pendant in the shape of a ships-wheel that Wolfgang had given to her before he left on his final patrol and she wanted it placed back on the boat as a tribute to her lost husband and crew.

Ian contacted me last year wanting to do a Rebreather course and during his training he revealed his plans to dive the U297 and I was immediately hooked on the story and it didn’t take much persuading when he asked me to join him. The dives were planned for May 2003 and aboard Ian’s new boat, MV Invincible would be the nephew of Wolfgang Aldegarmann; Thomas Bergmeier and his future wife Inga Pils who had flown over from Germany to represent the family for the occasion, Aldegarmann’s eighty-three year old widow was too frail for the journey. Also on board was Richard Skinner, the author of a book about U297 and Stig Thornsohn the Dane who was involved in the discovery and subsequent raising of U534 that now resides at the Historic Warships Museum in Birkenhead.

The weekend of the dives arrived and in true Orkney style we were blown out on the Saturday so we spent the day going through the dive plan and how we were going to video the plaque and pendant laying ceremony. After a quiet evening in Stromness and an early night we were all ready for an early start and what a lovely sight greeted us, the weather was calm and the sun was already out. By 11am we were on site and after a tense few minutes Ian was satisfied that he had the shot laid on the bow and we all dropped in. The tide was running at about half-a knot so it was a fair swim to get down but the visibility was a good 25 metres that made the descent a little easier.

As promised we arrived smack bang on the bows and what a site she was, the bows are bent slightly to port where she impacted the sea bed but there was no mistaking a U-Boat’s bow when you see it. As we reached the top of the bows we began to swim along the deck towards the conning tower. We soon came across the snorkel that had fallen back into its housing when hydraulic power had been lost when she was attacked but it was in near perfect condition considering it had laid there for nearly sixty years. Most of the wooden decking had been lost over time to expose the machinery that is fixed onto the pressure hull under the decking. We could distinctly make out the anchor winch, life raft holders and torpedo-loading hatch.

By the time I arrived at the conning tower were I was to place the plaque I could see Zaid’s filming the conning tower and control room. When he saw me he got into a position to film as I placed the plaque onto the sky periscope with as much grace as I could muster at 87 metres and then came around and ceremoniously dropped the gold pendant into the control room were it belonged. Just as we finished filming I heard Zaid’s usual 20 minute alarm go off and it was time to turn the dive. We headed forward were we met up with Dave who was just examining the bows again and headed up the shot to where our faithful safety diver was waiting. All tags were removed from the in/out board, the deco station was unclipped and off we plodded for our two hours of deco.

Back on the boat we were met with utter silence from everyone on board, once unkitted I went over to Thomas and shaking his hand I announced to him that it had been done. We could tell that the emotion was getting the better of him and I must say there was a tear or two in my eyes. As soon as Zaid was back onboard we all viewed the footage. The video was fantastic quality with visibility over 20 metres and when it came to the plaque laying ceremony at the conning tower we all agreed it will be a memory that will stay with us for a very, very long time.

The U297 project was a team effort by many people, primarily Ian Trumpess and Kevin Heath for the research and location of her, Richard Skinner for contacting the family of Wolfgang Aldegarmann, Thomas and Inga for their help in all family and German related matters and to the divers from New Frontier Diving, Zaid Al-Obaidi, Dave Spencer and Mark Lester.

If anybody visits the wreck of U297 please remember that this is the final resting place of 49 brave young men and their commander and that the plaque is their gravestone. The family would appreciate that nothing is touched or removed.

The team would like to thank Otter Drysuits for their support and Ian Trumpess of Scapa Flow Diving Holidays for the kind contribution of the MV Invincible for the dives. More pictures of the wreck can be seen www.newfrontierdiving.com

SIDE BAR

During 1943 and 1944 the ebb and flow of the U-boat war had turned very definitely in the Allies favour. The turning point had been the success of the convoy system. With the Atlantic being no longer a vast space into which to escape, the U-boats were being dispatched into shallower coastal waters where their ability to manouvre was more restricted. The second element in the Allies favour was the development of the V.L.R (Very Long Range) Bomber to provide convoy air cover. It had been discovered during WWI that aircraft could be an effective weapon against U-boats. An aircraft would on many occasions surprise a surfaced U-boat and attack it with both cannon fire and depth charges. If a U-boat spotted an aircraft at range it would have to dive and break off its shadowing activities and give the convoy a chance to change course and escape. It was not unusual for a V.L.R aircraft to put down half a dozen U-boats who were all moving into an ambush position. The mainstay of the air cover was provided by the B-24 Liberator, the B-17E Flying Fortress and Sunderland and Catalina flying boats. The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was a four-engine aircraft that had an operational range of just over 2,300 miles and could fly to her patrol in the mid-Atlantic from Allied air bases in either Northern Ireland or Iceland. The Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress had an effective operating range of 1,600 miles, however with the introduction of the B-17F and its additional 'Tokyo' fuel cells (called Tokyo because it was thought that the B-17F could attack Tokyo from Pacific aircraft carriers) the range was increased by a further 650 miles.

The Sunderland flying boats and Catalinas could patrol up to a range of 1,300 miles and provided a more coastal defence. Armed with aerial depth charges that could be set to various depths the Flying boats were large formidable weapons and around sixty percent of attacks on U-boats during 1944 came from the air. The U-boat crews easily recognised the Sunderland’s by their apparent slow speed and size and called them the “Mude Bienen” - Tired Bees. The U-boat crews got so used to seeing the Sunderland’s that they often reported any aircraft as a “flying-bee” even if they were far beyond the aircrafts 1,300-mile range. The patrols were long affairs and the aircraft had rest bunks and a galley that allowed the crew of ten to grab a moments rest. Pilots and navigators were especially chosen for this work from the best men in training. Navigators especially had a difficult job, flying out for 1,000 miles to find a convoy and then fifteen hours after taking off, find their way safetly back to base.

Doenitz changed his tactics in response to the air attacks and ordered the U-Boats to stay down during daylight hours. This meant that the U-boats now spent more time in securing their survival than attacking allied shipping. The German command tried to keep morale high by telling their men about the introduction of the type XXI U-boat that was capable of 16 knots submerged and could stay down for a ninety day patrol. In addition the Germans had developed the GNAT (German Naval Acoustic Torpedo) that was highly effective against the destroyer escorts.

But the new weapons were to be of little use as the Allies swept north across the Rhine, cutting off the major U-boat ports from re-supply, while at the same time the aircraft of Bomber Command carried out strikes against the ports of Bremen, Hamburg and Kiel. Doenitz knew that he could no longer win the Battle for the Atlantic. On 4 May 1945 he ordered the U-2511, the first operational type XXI boat back to port and on May 7 Admiral Doenitz, the new head of the Third Reich, surrendered to the allies.