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Louisiana Team Finds Arc Royal

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the watch-for-it-on-history-channel dept.

index72 writes "The aircraft carrier responsible for sinking the infamous German Battleship Bismark was found in the Mediterranean by a Lafayette, Louisiana team working with the BBC. The article includes a picture of the really cool looking AUV."

5 of 15 comments (clear)

  1. Ironic... by MacAndrew · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...that the famous victor should be found at the bottom of the sea -- sunk perhasp unawares by a sneaky U-boat. So what was in turn the fate of U-81? Almost certainly it was sunk. Once the Allies figured out submarine warfare the U-boat was the last place you'd want to be. There was one peak year for U-boats -- 1943? -- followed by disaster.

    Note that the Ark Royal played a role in sinking the Bismarck, by its aircraft crippling it. An assist?

    It is a very odd thing for Americans to think of U-boats sunk nearby off the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. We're not used to war at our shores. There is an excellent semi-children's book The Cay that turns in part on U-boats off Venezuela attempting to stop shipment of oil. Hemingway's Islands in the Stream (I think) and Hemingway's To Have and Have Not refer to it as well. I recently visited one of the pillboxes near SF built to help repel the Japanese naval assault that never came, although reportedly a couple of submarines did lob a few shells at the coast.

    Just some musings I hope are of interest. :)

  2. Ah, the internet... U-81 sank indeed by MacAndrew · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I forgot that trivia fans have everything out there, some of it accurate.

    The U-81

    Note that it came up again, too!

  3. Re:ARC Royal by RobotWisdom · · Score: 3, Funny

    We Americans just call it the 'Quarter Pounder'.

  4. One last bit by MacAndrew · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The captain of U-81 responsible for sinking the Ark Royal, Herr Guggenberger, did not perish with it; he was transferred to another U-boat before its sinking, then badly wounded and taken prisoner by the Americans. He later escaped and fled through Arizona, to be recaptured. He died in 1988 in Germany when he simply disappeared in the woods.

    I also am surprised at the idea of German POW running loose in the continental US.

  5. Corrections by Paul+Jakma · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's HMS Ark Royal (not Arc).

    She didnt sink the Bismarck. Rather the Fairy Swordfish torpedo bombers she carried torpedoed the Bismarck, scoring 2 hits, one of which caused no damage however the other caused her rudder to jam. 4 other battleships, HMS Rodney, King George, Dorsetshire and Norfolk closed in and pounded the Bismarck till it sank.

    http://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/history/

    HMS Ark Royal is also famous for launching several, mostly unsuccesful but daring, raids on Italian warships moored at harbours. Most famously on Taranto.

    --
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