r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/HimelTy • Jul 21 '26

Video A crashed Pan Am passenger plane from 1952 has been identified today by Discovery Channel in the Atlantic Ocean.

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u/Katerinaxoxo Jul 21 '26

A U boat off the coast of New Jersey?!? I didn’t realize that they made it that close to our border!!

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u/kelby810 Jul 21 '26

Oh yeah, something like 20+ uboats sank ~600 ships off the US east coast in 1942 as part of Operation Drumbeat. I think the majority of the attacks were off the coast of the Carolinas.

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u/Katerinaxoxo Jul 21 '26

So interesting and scary to consider. Thanks for sharing.

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u/theremin_antenna Jul 21 '26

My grandfather was a part of the civilian patrol along the coast and rivers of South Carolina (around Hilton Head and Charleston specifically). About a year later he joined the Navy officially.

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u/ureallygonnaskthat Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

There were U-Boats torpedoing boats in the Gulf and U-166 was sunk about 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana after it attacked a ship exiting the Mississippi River. The sub wreck was located in 2001 by a crew surveying the ocean floor while preparing to lay a pipeline.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-166_(1941)

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u/TexanToTheSoul Jul 21 '26

It's a fantastic book if you're ever looking for some true stories.

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u/Infamous-Comb-8079 Jul 21 '26

Nazis actually covertly landed on a piece of North American soil and installed equipment, at least that's what they found evidence of. I think it was in Newfoundland?

Edit: Weather Station Kurt

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u/Lou_C_Fer Jul 22 '26

I vaguely remember reading about that in elementary school.

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u/StandardHyena4587 Jul 22 '26

Why wouldn't you? You know germans landed on US soil as well?

What is really going to blow your mind is that Russian subs have surfaced off coast of Florida and with binoculars you could of seen them.

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u/chik-fil-a-sauce Jul 21 '26

There are a bunch within diveable depths. A lot of recreational divers do the U-352 off of NC. They use to patrol the east coast and sink merchant ships. Most of the wrecks in the “Graveyard of the Atlantic” off of NC are from U-boats in WWII.

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u/artistic_axolotle Jul 22 '26

We captured one in 1944! It's on display at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago.

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u/Bridget_0413 Jul 22 '26

I live in Curaçao, in the southern Caribbean off the coast of South America. A U boat sank an American ship just off shore here, with loss of life. They were prowling all over, including Curaçao, which had an important oil refinery.